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UNITED^TATES OF AMERICA. 







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PROM 



EIIWEIVT COMMENTATORS. 



WHO HAVE BELIEVED IN PUNISHMENT AFTEE DEATH J WHEREIN 
THEY HAVE AGREED WITH 



UNIVERSALISTS, 



INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURES 

RELATING TO 

PUNISHMENT. 



BY LUCIUS R. PAIGE, 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY; IN CAMBRIDGE. 




BOSTON: 

"UBLISHED BY T. WHITTEMORE, 40, CORNHILL, 
B. B. MUSSEY, 29, CORNHILL. 

1833. 






A 4 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833. 

By Lucius R. Paige, 
in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



//•*? 



PREFACE. 



Many passages occur in the New Testament, which are under- 
stood by some to indicate endless torment in the future life ; and 
by others, merely severe temporal judgments. It has often been 
objected to the interpretations given of these passages by Uni- 
versalists, that they are forced or strained ; — wresting the 
Scriptures from their true import. And not unfrequently, it has 
been gravely remarked, that if Universalists are correct in their 
expositions of Scripture, it is exceedingly strange that none of 
the- pious and learned divines of the two last centuries, should 
have discovered the true meaning of the controverted passages. 
I do not mean that any reputable critic has urged this apology 
for an argument : but it is a favorite theme with many laymen, 
as the reader must be fully aware : and some clergymen have 
not hesitated to adopt this expedient to persuade their hearers 
that the views exhibited of the Scriptures by Universalists, must 
necessarily be false : — that they are adopted and defended, 
merely to give some semblance of support to a favorite theory. 

To remove this objection, and to exhibit the true state of the 
case, is the principal object of the following pages. It will be 
discovered that the * pious and learned divines,' who have 
studied so deeply, and written so extensively, as to acquire for 
themselves the reputatiqn of profound theologians, although 
they believed in the endless misery of the wicked, have yet 
given interpretations of the Scriptures, similar to those now 
given by Universalists. Hence it follows that the charge, al- 
leged against Universalists, of thus interpreting Scripture mere- 
ly to support a favorite theory, is unfounded and unjust: — for 
orthodox commentators have given the same interpretations in 



IV PREFACE. 

spite of their own theory, or at the least, when not endeavoring^ 
in a set discourse, to defend it. 

Of course, it is not pretended that any one orthodox commen- 
tator explains every disputed text in accordance with the views 
entertained by Universalists. But among them all, some have 
fbrnished us authority on every text of this description, with a 
very few exceptions : some furnishing authority on one text^ 
some on another. 

It is proper to observe, in this place, that I would not be un- 
derstood to adopt, as correct, all the expositions contained in the 
body of this work. The quotations are introduced, on each text, 
with reference to this single point : to wit. Does this text teach or 
imply a state of misery in the future life* or does it nott When 
any commentator allows that it does not, I consider him to be 
proper authority to quote, in confirmation of the exposition given 
by Universalists, even though they do not agree with him in 
regard to what the text does mean. I will illustrate my meaning 
by a single example. By referring to the notes on Rev. vi. 12 — 
17, it will be seen that Hammond and Lightfoot interpret the 
passage as descriptive of the ' destruction of Jerusalem and the 
whole Jewish state :' the authors of the Assembly's Annotations 
think it relates to ' the troubles that were to befal the Roman 
empire ;' while Clarke says that 'all these tilings may literally 
apply to the final destruction of Jerusalem.and to the revolution 
which took place in the Roman empire under Constantine the 
Great.' Clarke adds: 'some apply them to the day of judg. 
ment ; but they do not seem to have that awful event in view/ 
These writers differ among themselves concerning the precise 
meaning of the passage : but they agree that it is descriptive of 
events which should be accomplished on the earth, and that it 
does not refer to the future life. Without deciding which is cor- 
rect, in regard to the point in which they differ, and even with- 
out necessarily adopting* either opinion as correct, I quote their 
authority in relation only to the point before mentioned : — does 
this passage teach or imply a state of misery in the future life, or 
does it not") They all agree that it does not ; but that it has es- 
pecial reference to temporal concerns, not having what is called 
the day of general judgment in view. So much may suffice to 



PREFACE. V 

6how the propriety of agreeing with these commentators in re- 
lation to what a text does not mean, even though we may disagree 
in relation to what it does mean. I only add. that in a large majori- 
ty of cases, the interpretations quoted in this work, are precisely 
such as are now given hy Universalists ; and which, when so 
given, are, by some of our opposers, stigmatized as foul heresy. 

It may be considered a fault, that I have not given a full illus- 
tration of the passages quoted, according to the views which 
generally obtain among Universalists. I have omitted doing 
his, for two reasons : (1) such a course would have very consid- 
erably increased the size, and consequently the expense of the 
book ; (2) my object was, not so much to prove the correctness of 
our views, as to show that they are not novel : that they are not 
the efTect of an overweening desire to support a theory, even at 
the expense of reason and common sense : but that our opposers 
themselves have given the same, or similar interpretations, 
when their own theory was not allowed to influence their judg- 
ment. I know the opinions quoted are only the opinions of 
men; that they do not furnish positive proof that we are correct 
in our expositions of scripture : but a very strong, even a violent 
presumptive evidence is furnished, when men who firmly believe 
in the endless misery of the wicked, interpret a given passage 
to relate not to such misery, but to some temporal judgment or 
calamity, notwithstanding their creed and their prejudices, so 
far as they operate, would induce a different interpretation. 

I have taken the liberty to omit the Greek phrases and words, 
in the notes, as far as was practicable ; and where I could not 
conveniently do this, to insert them in the English char- 
acter : believing such a course would be acceptable to a majority 
of my readers. With this exception, I have endeavored to copy 
every author fairly and faithfully ; and have often quoted more 
than I desired, rather than have the appearance of mutilating, or 
misrepresenting the passage. The only alteration I have ven- 
tured to make, is in the orthography. Seme very antiquated 
phrases will be found, and some words, of which the meaning 
may appear obscure. But I chose to let them remain, rather 
than attempt to alter the phraseology. A few of the words 
alluded to, may serve as a specimen: However frequently 
1* 



VI PREFACE. 

occurs in the more ancient writers in the sense of at all events ; 
expect is used for await ; importance, for import ; notation, for 
signification ; consequents, for consequences ; &c. 

Before closing this introduction, it should be observed that a 
work of similar character was commenced, a few years since, by 
Rev. H. Ballou 2d. but for want of sufficient leisure was aban- 
doned. This gentleman pursued his examination as far as Matt, 
xviii. 3. the results of which were published in the second volume 
of the 'Trumpet.' Of course, many of the authorities I have quoted 
thus far, are the same which were adduced by Mr. Ballou : I have 
omitted some of his, and have added some others. I have also ta- 
ken the liberty to incorporate into my work the remarks of Mr.B. 
in relation to one or two passages, as will be noticed by the rea- 
der. I may observe, however, that with a very few exceptions, 
my quotations from orthodox writers, have been made directly 
from the works quoted, and not through the medium of other 
writers. 

Of the authors quoted in this work, it maybe sufficient to say 
that they are all supposed to have believed the doctrine of end- 
less misery, except Wakefield, Kenrick, and Cappe. But these 
three believed in a state of torment for the wicked in the future 
life, and may therefore be quoted, when the only question is, 
whether a given passage relate to misery after death or not 
I am not certain but Bate also should be excepted. Of his re- 
ligious views, I know nothing, except what is contained in the 
extract quoted among the notes on Luke xvi. 19—81. This 
was taken from an English Review, by Rev. T. Whittemore, 
from whom I have copied it. 

I subjoin a list of authors quoted, with the title and date of 
the edition from which the selections were made. 

Assembly's Annotations. ( Annotations upon all 
the books of the Old and New Testament, &c. by the 
labor of certain learned divines thereunto appointed, and 
therein employed, as is expressed in the Preface.' 
London, 1657. 2 vols, folio. 

Of this work Home says, it ' is usually called the Assembly's 
Annotations, from the circumstance of its having been compos- 
ed by members of the Assembly of divines who sat at West- 
minster during the great rebellion.' Intro, ii. 751. 



PREFACE. Vll 

Bate. ' A Rationale of the literal doctrine of Orig- 
inal Sin, &lc. By James Bate, A. M. Rector of 
Deptford.' 

From the title Recto?', Bate seems to have been a clergyman 
of the established Church in England. As I before remarked, 
I have little knowledge respecting him. 

Beausobre et Lenfant. ' Le Nouveau Testament 
de notre Seigneur Jesus Christ; traduit en Francois sur 
Poriginal Grec. Avec des notes literales pour eclaircir 
le texte. Par. MRS. De Beausobre et Lenfant.' 
Lausanne, 1735. 2 vols. 4 to. 

1 This, though a posthumous work, is very valuable, and con- 
tains many excellent and judicious observations, briefly express- 
ed, but which nevertheless comprise the substance of remarks 
offered by the best interpreters.' Home, Intro, ii. 785. 

Benson. 6 A paraphrase and notes on the Epistles 
of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, Timothy, Philemon 
and Titus, and the seven Catholic Epistles by James, 
Peter, Jude and John. By George Benson, D. D.' 
London, 1752, 1756. 2 vols/4to. 

See remarks under the name of Peirce. 

Beza. i Testamentum novum, sive novum foedus 
Jesu Christu,D. N. &c. Theodorus Bez^. ? Fourth 
edition, 1689. 1 vol. folio. 

'Beza is undoubtedly the best critic on the Greek language 
of any commentator we have.* Dr. Doddridge, quoted by Home, 
Intro, ii. 783. 

Campbell. c The four Gospels, translated from the 
Greek, with Preliminary Dissertations and Notes Criti- 
cal and Explanatory. By George Campbell, D. D. 
F. R. S. Edinburgh, Principal of the Marischal Col- 
lege, Aberdeen.' Boston, 1824. 4 vols. 8vo. 

'The extensive circulation of this valuable work, which has 
placed the author high in the rank of biblical critics, sufficiently 
attests the esteem in which it is held.' Home, Intro, ii. 792. 

Cappe. c Critical Remarks on many important pas- 
sages of Scripture : together with dissertations upon 



Vlll PREFACE. 

several subjects, tending to illustrate the phraseology 
and doctrine of the New Testament* By the late Rev. 
Newcome Cappe.' York, 1802. 2 vols. &vo. 

Cappe, was * a dissenting minister, who died 1801, at York, 
where he was settled. He was educated under Doddridge and 
Leechman.' Lemp. Univ. Biog. art. Cappe. 

Clarke. 'The New Testament of our Lord and 
Saviour, Jesus Christ : he. with a Commentary and 
Critical Notes, designed as a help to a better under- 
standing of the sacred writings. By Adam Clarke, 
L. L. D. F. S. A. M. R. I. A.' &c. &c. New 
York, 1830. 2 vols. 8 vo. 

Clarke is so well known as the great Methodist Commentator, 
that nothing need here be said of the character of his work. 

Diodati. ' Pious Annotations upon the Holy Bible, 
expounding the difficult places thereof learnedly and 
plainly: by the reverend, learned and godly divine, Mr. 
John Diodati, minister of the gospel. The third 
edition, London, 1651.' 1 vol. folio. 

c Diodati was an eminent Italian divine and reformer in the 
early part of the 17th century: his annotations are properly 
scholia, rather practical than critical, but containing many useful 
hints.' Home, Intro, ii. 738. 

Dutch Annotations. 'The Dutch annotations 
upon the whole Bible : or, all the Holy Canonical 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament ; together with, 
and according to their own translation of all the text : 
as both the one and the other were ordered and appoint- 
ed by the Synod of Dort, 1618, and published by 
authority, 1637. Now faithfully communicated to the 
use of Great Britain, in English. By Theodore Haak 
Esq.' London, 1657. 2 vols, folio. 

The title of this work sufficiently expresses its character. It 
need only be remarked that a majority of the Synod of Dort were 
rigid Calvinists ; who, after expelling the Arminiansfrom among 
them, held the remainder of their session very comfortably. The 
version and annotations prepared by their order, are of course, 
thoroughly Calvinistic. 



PREFACE. IX 

Elsley. ' Annotations on the four Gospels, and the 
Acts of the Apostles : compiled and abridged for the use 
of students. 5 London, 1812. 3 vols. 8vo. 

'Altogether, we say without the smallest reserve, we never 
saw a book more admirably adapted for the use of students, more 
creditable to an author's sagacity, diligence and erudition,' 
&c. ' This work is known to be the production of the Rev. Mr. 
Elsley, vicar of Burenston, near Bedale.' Home, Intro, ii. 792. 

Fell. <A paraphrase and annotations upon all St. 
Paul's Epistles ; done by several eminent men at Ox- 
ford. Corrected and improved by the late Right Rev. 
and learned Bishop Fell.' London, 1702. 1 vol. 8 vo. 

'Fell on the epistles is very short ; but most of his notes are 
worthy of remark.' Dr. Doddridge, quoted by Home, Intro, ih 
796. 

Geneva Bible. The copy to which I have referred 
is in the library of Harvard University, but has no title 
page. Home says this version and notes were first 
published at Geneva in 1560. The translators were ' all 
zealous Calvinists, both in doctrine and discipline.' 
Intro, ii. 244. 

Gill. c An Exposition of the Old and New Testa- 
ments, in which the sense of the sacred text is given : 
doctrinal and practical truths are set in a plain and easy 
light ; difficult passages explained ; &c. By John Gill. 
D. D.' London, 1809—1810. 9 vols, folio. 

This author was a Baptist after the straitest sect. His rank 
among the Baptists will perhaps very nearly correspond with that 
of Dr. A. Clarke among the Methodists, 

Gilpin. 'An Exposition of the New Testament, &c. 
By William Gilpin, A. M. Prebendary of Salisbury, 
vicar of Boldoe in New Forest, near Lymington.' Lon- 
don, 1790. 1 vol 4 to. 

Home says of this, that it is a 'justly admired, and ably execu- 
ted work.' Intro, ii. 789. 

Greek and English Testament, 1729. c The 
IVew Testament in Greek and English. Containing the 



X PREFACE. 

original text, corrected from the authority of the most 
authentic manuscripts; and a neiv version, formed agree- 
ably to the illustrations of the most learned commenta- 
tors and critics, &c. ? London, 1729. 2 vols. 8 vo. 

This work, I suspect, never obtained a very high reputation, 
though its author, or authors, manifestly believed the doctrine 
of endless misery. The style of the translation is liable to serious 
objections, on account of its apparent levity. 

Grotius. < Hugonis Grotii Opera omnia theo- 
logica, &c.' Amsterdam, 1689. 4 vols, folio. 

My quotations were made partly from this edition, and partly 
from the Critici Sacri. Of this author, Dr. A. Clarke says, ' His 
learning was very extensive ; his erudition profound ; and his 
moderation oh subjects of controversy highly praiseworthy. No 
man possessed a more extensive and accurate knowledge of the 
Greek and Latin writers ; and no man has more successfully 
applied them to the illustration of the sacred writings.' Com. 
Gen. Preface. 

Hallett. c A free and impartial Study of the Holy 
Scriptures recommended ; being Notes on some peculiar 
Texts, with Discourses and Observations, &c. By Jo- 
seph Hallett, Jr.' London, 1729, 1732, and 1736. 
3 vols. 8 vo, 

c Many important topics of Scripture criticism and interpreta- 
tion are discussed in these volumes. If the reader is not always 
convinced by the arguments of the learned author, he cannot 
fail of being- pleased with the ingenuity and spirit of candor and 
piety which pervade them.' Home, Intro, ii. 786. 

Hammond. ' A Paraphrase and Annotations upon 
all the Books of the New Testament, briefly explaining 
all the difficult parts thereof. By H. Hammond, D. 
D.' London, 1653, and (7th edit.) 1702. 1 vol. folio. 

'The first edition of this valuable work appeared in 1653; it 
is in great and growing reputation.' Home. Intro, ii. 786. 

Henry. ( An Exposition of the Old and New Tes- 
taments ; wherein each chapter is summed up in its 
contents; the Sacred text inserted at large, in distinct 
paragraphs ; each paragraph reduced to its proper heads ; 
the sense given, and largely illustrated : With practical 



PREFACE. XI 

remarks and observations. By Matthew Henry, late 
Minister of the Gospel at Chester.' London, 1760. 
6 vols, folio. 

'The value of this Commentary is too well known to require 
any testimonies to its merit.' Home, Intro, ii. 753. 

Heylin. c Theological lectures at Westminster Ab- 
bey : with an interpretation of the New Testament, &c. 
By John Heylin, D. D. Prebendary of Westminster, 
and Rector of St. Mary-le-strand.' London, 1749. 
2 vols. 4 to. 

1 This interpretation, though* far from being elegant, appears 
to us, in general, to be accurate and judicious, and shows that 
the author had carefully studied the original.' Monthly Review, 
quoted by Home, Intro, ii. 788. 

Horne. i An Introduction to the Critical Study and 
Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. By Thomas Hart- 
well Horne, (of St. John's College, Cambridge,) 
Curate of the united parishes of Christ Church, Newgate 
street, and St. Leonard's, Foster lane.' Philadelphia, 
1826, (from the London edition") 4 vols. 8 vo. 

This work is too well known in this country to require any 
testimony relative to its character. It deserves a place in the 
library of every clergyman of whatever denomination. It need 
scarcely be remarked that its author was a firm believer in the 
doctrine of endless misery. 

Jones. , < Illustrations of the four Gospels, founded 
on circumstances peculiar to our Lord and the Evange- 
lists. By John Jones.' London, 1808. 1 vol. 8 vo. 

This author was an English clergyman, and his work is con- 
sidered to be judicious and useful. 

Kenrick. 'An Exposition of the Historical Writings 
of the New Testament, with Reflections subjoined to 
each section: by the late Rev. Timothy Kenrick. 3 
Boston, 1828, (from the London edition.) 3 vols. 8 vo. 

This author was an English Unitarian divine. He believed 
in a state of punishment in the future life ; but not in its endless 
duration. His exposition has been generally well received: 
thoup-h perhaps it has had quite as much credit for originality as 



Xll PREFACE. 

it deserved. The editor of the second edition says, the work 
has been highly commended since its first publication. 

Knatchbull. c Annotations upon some difficult 
Texts, in all the Books of the New Testament. By 
Sir Norton Knatchbull, Knight and Baronet.' 
Cambridge, 1693. 1 vol. 12 mo. 

The character of this work, and the rank of its author, are 
sufficiently described in the title-page. Sir Norton Knatchbull 
ranks among the learned writers of his day ; and his work con- 
tains many valuable notes. 

Lardner. c A History of the Apostles and Evan- 
gelists, writers of the New Testament. By Nathan- 
iel Lardner, D. D. London, 1760.' This w T ork is 
republished in c a collection of Theological Tracts, in 
6 volumes, by Richard Watson, D. D. F. R. S. 
Lord Bishop of Llandaff, &c.' London, 1791. 6 vols. 
8vo. 

This work 'is an admirable introduction to the New Testa- 
ment, and a storehouse of literary information, collected with 
equal industry and fidelity.' Bishop Marsh, quoted by Home, 
Intro, ii. 725. 

Lawson. c An Exposition of the Epistle to the He- 
brews : wherein the Text is cleared ; Theopolitica im- 
proved ; The Socinian comment examined. By George 
Lawson, Rector of More, in the County of Salop. 3 
London, 1662. 1 vol. folio. 

Of this writer I know little, except that he was a clergyman 
of the established English Church. 

Leighton. l The Expository works, and other Re- 
mains of Archbishop Leighton,' &lc. Edinburgh, 
1748. 2 vols. 8 vo. 

Home pronounces the work here mentioned to be an 'admira- 
ble commentary.' Intro, ii. 803. 

Lightfoot. The works of the reverend and learned 
John Lightfoot, D. D. late master of Katherine Hall 
in Cambridge.' London, 1684. 2 vols, folio : and 
1825. 13 vols. 8 vo. 



PREFACE. Xlll 

: The writings of Dr. Lightfoot are an invaluable treasure to 
the Biblical student. By his deep researches into the Rabbini- 
cal writings, he has done more to illustrate the phraseology of 
the Holy Scriptures, and to explain the various customs, &c. 
therein alluded to, particularly in the New Testament, than any 
other author, before or since.' Home, Intro, ii. 298. 

Locke. 6 A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles 
of St. Paul to the Galatians, First and Second Corin- 
thians, Romans, and Ephesians, &c. By John Locke.' 
Cambridge, 1832. 1 vol 8 vo. 

For remarks on this work see the name of Peirce. I remark 
here that the author is the same, whose philosophical works have 
secured to him an immortal reputation. 

Macknight. c A Harmony of the Four Gospels: in 
which the natural order of each is preserved : with a 
Paraphrase and Notes. By James Macknight, M. 
A. minister of Maybole.' London, 1756. 2 vols, in 
one, 4 to. 

6 A new Literal Translation, from the original Greek, 
of all the Apostolical Epistles.^ With a Commentary 
and Notes, Philological, Explanatory and Practical. 
By James Macknight, D. D. author of a Harmony of 
the Gospels, &c. 5 Boston, 1810. 6 vols. 8 vo. and 
London, 1832, 1 vol. royal 8 vo. 

Of the ' Harmony,'' here named, Home says it ' contains so 
much useful information' that it ' has long been regarded as a 
standard book among divines.' Intro, ii. 482. And of the 
1 Translation? &c. the same author says, ' It is a work of theolo- 
gical labor not often paralleled, and an ample storehouse of 
observations to exercise not only the student, but the adept in 
divinity.' Intro, ii. 796. 

Parkhurst. l A Greek and English Lexicon to 
the New Testament. By John Parkhurst, M. A. 
Formerly Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge. 5 London, 
1794. 1 vol. 4 to. 

Home pronounces this an c admirable work,' and says it con- 
tains ' valuable stores of philology.' Intro, ii. 705. 

Pearce. c A Commentary with notes on the four 
Evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles, together with 
2 



XIT PREFACE. 

a new translation of St. Paul's first Epistle to the 
Corinthians, with a paraphrase and notes, &c. By 
Zachary Pearce.D. D. late Lord Bishop of Roches- 
ter.' London, 1777. 2 vols. 4 to. 

'To Dr. Z.Pearce, Bishop of Rochester, we are indebted for 
an invaluable Commentary and notes on the four gospels' &c. 
Home, Intro, ii. 791. 

Peirce. ' A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles 
of St. Paul to the Colossians, Philippians and Hebrews, 
after the manner of Mr. Locke. By the late Reverend 
and learned Mr. James Peirce, of Exon.' London, 
1733. 1 vol. 4 to. 

Under the titles of Benson, and Locke. I have referred to 
this place. Of these authors, Home says : — ' Locke, Peirce, and 
Benson, make up a complete Commentary on the Epistles, and 
are indeed all in the number of the most ingenious Commenta- 
tors I have ever read.' Intro, ii. 797. 

Poole. f Annotations upon the Holy Bible, where- 
in the Sacred Text is inserted, and various readings an- 
nexed, together with the parallel Scriptures, the more 
difficult terms in each verse are explained, seeming con- 
tradictions reconciled, questions and doubts resolved, 
and the whole text opened. By the late Reverend and 
learned Divine Mr. Matthew Poole.' London, 1683 
and 1635. 2 vols, folio. 

'The Annotations are mingled with the text, and are allowed 
to be very judicious: the author (who was an eminent noncon- 
formist divine) wrote them only as far as the 58th chapter of 
Isaiah, the remainder of the notes was compiled after the same 
manner, by several eminent dissenting ministers.' Home, Intro. 
ji. 751. 

Pyle. 'A Paraphrase, with some Notes on the 
Acts of the Apostles, and upon all the Epistles of the 
New Testament: being a complete supplement to Dr. 
Clarke's Paraphrase on the Four Gospels, &c. By 
Thomas Pyle, M. A. Lecturer of Lyn-Regis. in 
Norfolk.' London, 1715. 2 vols. 8 vo. 

This author was ' an eminent divine, born 1674, — educated 
at Caius College, Cambridge. His Paraphrase on the Acta 



PREFACE. XT 

and all the Epistles, is an excellent work, often re-printed.' 
Lemp. Univ. Biography, Art. Pyle. 

RoSENMULLER. l D. Io. GeORGII RoSENMULLERI 

Scholia in Novum Testamentum.' Norimbergae, 
1S01 1808. 5 vols. 8 vo. 

This is the work of an eminent German Author, not long 
«ince introduced into this country ; its reputation is high among 
divines, of all denominations. 

Schleusxer. ' Novum Lexicon Graeco-Latinam 
in Novum Testamentum, congessit et variis observa- 
tionibus philologicis illustravit Johannes Frieder. 
Schleusner.' Lipsiae, 1819. 2 vols. 8 vo. 

This Lexicon is well known among scholars, and its merits 
are universally acknowledged. Home calls it, (Intro, ii. 705,) 
1 an invaluable work.' 

Scott. ' The Holy Bible, containing the Old and 
New Testaments, with original Notes, and practical Ob- 
servations. By Thomas Scott, Rector of Aston San- 
ford, Bucks, and Chaplain to the Lock Hospital/ Bos- 
ton, 1816. 6 vols. 8 vo. 

This work is too well known to need description. It is in al- 
most every (orthodox) family in the country, and its authority 
admitted to be, at least, respectable. 

Theophylact. Theophylacti Archiepiscopi 
Bulgarije, in Quatuor Evangelia Enarrationes, denuo 
recognitae. Ioanne Oecolampadio interprete. An- 
no 1525.' 1 vol. folio. 

'Theophylact, metropolitan of Bulgaria, flourished in the 
11th century ; his Scholia on the principal books of Scripture 
are chiefly abridged from Chrysostom. Those on the Gospels, 
Acts, and St. Paul's Epistles, are particularly valuable.' Home, 
Intro, ii. 743. 

Tomson's Beza. 'The New Testament of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, translated out of the Greek by 
Theod. Beza. Whereunto are adjoined large expo- 
sitions of the phrases and hard places, by the Author, 
and others, &c. Englished by L. Tomson.' London, 
1583. 1 vol folio. 
This, as the title imports, is the translation and Notes of 



XVI PREFACE. 

Beza in an English dress. Of the character of this writer, 
something is said under the title Beza. 

Wakefield. < A translation of the New Testament. 
By Gilbert Wakefield. B. A. 5 Cambridge, 1820. 
2 vols, in one, 8 vo. 

This author was an English Unitarian, and is highly prized 
by the American Unitarians. He rejected the doctrine of end- 
less misery, but believed in a state of misery for the wicked in 
the future life. 

Whitby. l A Paraphrase and Commentary on 
the New Testament. By Daniel Whitby, D. D. 
Late Chantor of the Cathedral Church of Sarum.' 
London, 1727. 2 vols, folio. 

1 Divines of every denomination concur in pronouncing Dr. 
Whitby's Commentary to be, upon the whole, the best upon the 
New Testament that is extant in the English language.' 
Home, Intro, ii. 787. 

Witsius. ' Hermanni Witsii, Dissertatio de Sec- 
ulo hoc et futuro.' 

This Dissertation is found in the work entitled < No- 
vum Testamentum ex Talmude et Antiquitatibus He- 
braeorum Illustratum, he. a Joh. Gerhardo Meus- 
chen.' Lipsiae, 1736. 1 vol. 8 vo. 

Home notices this as a valuable and learned work. See his 
Intro, ii. 298. 

Wynne. ' The New Testament; carefully collated 
with the Greek, and corrected ; divided and pointed ac- 
cording to the various subjects treated of by the inspired 
writers, with the common division into chapters and 
verses in the margin ; and illustrated with Notes critical 
and explanatory. By Richard Wynne, A. M. Rec- 
tor of Alphage, London, and Chaplain to the Right 
Honorable the Earl of Dunmore.' London 1764. 2 
vols. 8 vo. 

Of this work, Home says it is chiefly a compendium of Dr. 
Doddridge's Exposition. Of course it has the merit of ortho- 
doxy ; as none will doubt that Doddridge was sufficiently or- 
thodox. See Home's Intro. ii, 788. 



The foregoing brief notices are intended merely to show that 
the works quoted are such as are allowed, by the orthodox, to be 
good authority. 

Many of the works, here mentioned, were procured from the 
Library of Harvard University ; for the use of which I am grate- 
ful. To the Librarian of that Institution I am under peculiar 
obligations, for the many facilities granted me in the prosecution 
of my labor. 

I flatter myself that by the collection and publication of these 
testimonies, from authors, the works of many of whom have not 
been extensively circulated in America, I may render an ac- 
ceptable service to the community generally, — and especially to 
the denomination of Christians, with whom I am happy to be in 
fellowship. If my labor shall serve to open the eyes of the men* 
tally blind, or confirm the faith of believers, or in any manner 
promote the cause of truth, I shall rejoice. 

Cambridge, Oct 19, 1833. 

LUCIUS R. PAIGE. 



2* 



SELECTIONS, &c 



SECTION I. 



' Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'— Matt. hi. 2. 

This passage is sometimes, though not so frequently 
as some others, alleged as proof that a portion of man- 
kind will not be saved. It is assumed that the king- 
dom of heaven means the state of endless glory in reser- 
vation for the righteous ; it is further assumed that some 
shall remain ' finally impenitent ;' and then it is gravely 
contended, that since some never will repent, they can 
never be admitted into that kingdom : in other words, 
they can never be saved. As no one pretends that this 
text affords direct proof of endless misery, I might pass 
by it in silence ; but I am induced to notice it, because 
it gives me an opportunity to insert a valuable note from 
Hammond, to which I may have occasion to refer more 
than once, in the progress of my work. The note fol- 
lows : — 

6 The phrase basileia ton our anon or tou theou, the king- 
dom of heaven and of God, signifies in the New Testa- 
ment the kingdom of the Messias, or that state or condi- 
tion, which is a most lively image of that which we 
believe to be in heaven, and therefore called by that 
name. For as God's regal power exercised in heaven 
consists in assisting, defending, and rewarding all his 
faithful subjects, and in warning, punishing and destroy- 
ing his obdurate enemies, so this kingdom of the Messias 
is an exact image or resemblance of it ; and being as it 
is elsewhere affirmed, not of this world, a secular king- 
dom, but consisting especially in subduing the world to 
his dominion. That is done first by the descent of the 



20 SELECTIONS FROM 

spirit, and preaching the gospel, by his word powerfully 
working in some, and bringing them unto the faith, and 
then by his iron rod executing vengeance on others, viz. 
the contumacious and obdurate, (to this purpose that par- 
able delivered by Christ, Luke xix. 12, on occasion of 
their thinking that the kingdom of God should presently 
appear, v. 11, is very considerable, see the place,) and 
particularly those of the nation of the Jews after the 
crucifixion of Christ. And accordingly this kingdom of 
God will generally signify these two together, not only 
the first alone, but in conjunction with it, that other 
more tragical part of it also. That it is used so here 
may be discerned, — 

First, by that which is said in Malachi, by way of 
prophecy of John's preaching, (iv. 5,) that he should 
come before the great and terrible day of the Lord (see 
note on ch. xvii. 10,) i. e. before the fatal destruction of 
this people ; and also in Isaiah, that when he cried in the 
wilderness, this was part of his crying, prepare ye the way 
of the Lord: noting him an anteambuio or forerunner of 
Christ's coming, «fcc. 

Secondly, by that which follows here, ver. 10, as the 
explication of this text of the Baptist's [and now also the 
axe is laid to the root of the trees ; every tree therefore that 
bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into 
the fire;) and again, ver. 7, by the orge mellousa the wrath 
ready to come upon them, which is proportionable, or par- 
allel to the approaching kingdom of heaven, as the exhorta- 
tion ver. 8, of bringing forth meet fruits of repentance, is to 
metanoeite, repent; and so directly in that prophecy of 
Malachi's concerning the coming and preaching of John 
Baptist, (iv. 5, 6,) the sum of his preaching is expressed 
by the effect of it : — he shall turn the heart of the fathers 
to (or with) the children, and the heart of the children to 
(or with) their fathers,!, e. shall convert all sorts of Jews 
young and old, fathers and children, preach conversion 
and repentance to them, lest I, (i, e. God,) come and smite 
the earth (or land) with a curse; whereas God's coming 
is interpreted by his smiting Judea, (curses and inflic- 
tions on that land,) so is this denunciation of those judg- 
ments part of that Baptist's sermon, and the repentance 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 21 

or conversion by him preached, the only means to avert 
them. 

And so likewise in Isa. xl. the revealing the glory of 
the Lord, &c. vcr. 5, may be the preaching of the Gospel, 
and then the visibleness of God's judgments on all the 
Jews in Judea, and vcr. 6, 7, 8, very fitly refer to the 
sudden destruction of that people, as the withering of 
grass, or fading of flowers, upon God's blowing upon them, 
whereby his displeasure is expressed. To which yet his 
preservation of the remnant, (as here his gathering the 
wheat into his garner, vcr. 12,) his protecting of the few 
believers, (so that not a hair of their heads shall fall, 
Luke xxi. 18,) is immediately annexed, ver. 9, 10, 11. 
And accordingly the kingdom of God here is not to Jbe so 
restrained to the punitive part, but that it also contain 
under it that other piece of regality, which consists in 
protecting of subjects, and rewarding them which do 
well also, which should be most visible at the time of his 
punishment on the obstinate, his burning the chaff with 
unquenchable fire. To this purpose the words of St. Luke, 
xxi. 18, 31, are most remarkable, where setting down 
distinctly the signs and forerunners of the destruction of 
the temple and that people, and among those prognostics, 
the great persecutions which the disciples should find from 
the Jews, he bids them cheerfully look up, ver. 28, for their 
redemption, deliverance from these hazards and pressures, 
draweth near: and, with a short parable interposed to 
express it, he adds, ver. 31, know that the kingdom of God 
is at hand: this kingdom* surely here, which now ap- 
proached, but should then be more near, wherein the 
judgment of God should be most visible in judging be- 
twixt the wheat and the straw, burning up the refuse, 
destroying the impenitent unbelieving Jews, but protect- 
ing and setting safe on the shore all the disciples and 
believers, and that by the very destruction of these their 
brethren, who were their chiefest persecutors, ver. 16. 
This sense will be the more unquestioned, if it be observ- 
ed, that when Christ himself begins to preach, he used 
the same words, (Matt. iv. 17,) by which it is clear that 
Christ's preaching the gospel was not the only thing 
meant by this kingdom, (as it is generally supposed,) 



22 SELECTIONS FROM 

because that was then actually present, when Christ 
saith only, it is nigh approaching. 

And as by Christ, so when the apostles are sent out by 
him, the same style is still prescribed them, Mat. x. 7. 
As you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand. And it is to the same sense affirmed by Christ, 
that he came to send a sword, i. e. a slaughter on the land 
of Judea, Mat. x. 34 : so when this commission of the 
apostles is set down by'St. Luke, (x. 11,) to those that 
receive them not, they are appointed to use a direful cere- 
mony, shaking off the dust from their feet against them, 
and telling them the importance of it, that the kingdom of 
God is nigh upon them, ver. 11 : and upon the back of 
that, ver. 12. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more toler- 
able for Sodom in that day, (i. e. not in the day of judg- 
ment to come, for that belongs to each particular person, 
not whole cities together, but) in that day of the kingdom 
of God, than for that refractory city. God's dealing 
with Sodom, in the day of their destruction with fire and 
brimstone shall be acknowledged to have been more 
supportable, than his dealing with such contumacious 
impenitent cities of Judea. 

So Matt. xvi. 28. The son of man coming in his king- 
dom belongs not to the transfiguration, as it is by many 
mistaken, but to a coming in the glory of his Father to 
reward and punish, ver. 27, (and is called the kingdom of 
God coining with power, Mark ix. 1,) and that belongs 
clearly to the scope of the place, viz. to arm his follow- 
ers that they should not be terrified with the malice of 
the Jews, ver. 25, or tempted to deny Christ, Luke ix. 

26. So Luke ix. 11, when it is said, they thought the 
kingdom of God should presently appear, Christ's parable, 
concluding with the bringing forth and slaying his ene- 
mies before him, applies it directly to this purpose, ver. 

27, and to what he adds, ver. 43, at his entrance into 
Jerusalem. So Luke xvii. 20, when he answers that 
the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, i. e. in a 
pompous, remarkable manner, so as kings were wont to 
come with their court and train attending; which all 
men come out to look after, and cry, lo here, i. e. it is 
come &c. it is clear by the consequents, that it belongs to 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 23 

this matter ; first, the preaching of the gospel among 
them, then already begun, ver. 21, and then the destroy- 
ing of unbelievers, ver. 22, 24, &c. 

The way by which this phrase comes thus to signify, 
is this, because there be several offices of a king, the ex- 
ercise of the power of the sicord, as well as of making laws; 
of punishing and rewarding, as well as of reigning : he is 
ekdikos eis orgen, Rom. xiii. 4, an avenger to inflict pun- 
ishment ; and so he is expressed at his eJcdikesis, Luke 
xviii. 7, speaking of this matter. In this respect it is, 
that the governors of the Jews were called judges ; in- 
flicting of punishments or judgments (which is one part) 
giving demonstration to the whole regal office ; and so 
Luke x. these three phrases, the kingdom of God ver. 11, 
and that day, i. e. tho time of his exercising that regal 
power, ver. 12, (or as St. Mark reads it, hemera Jcriseos, 
vi. 11, the day of executing judgment) and in the same 
matter krisis, ver. 14, judgment simply, are all phrases of 
the same significancy to denote the destruction here 
threatened, with which there was also mercy mingled, and 
preservation to some. See Luke xvii. 34. xxi. 28. The 
same thing is expressed by other phrases, the coming of 
Christ, the end, the end of all things, the conclusion of this 
age, which in their due places shall be observed.' Ham- 
mond, Annot. in he. 

To this very full note, I only add, that among others, 
the Compilers of the Dutch Annotations, Poole's Con- 
tinuators, Lightfoot, Knatchbull, Wynne, and Heylin, 
concur in opinion that the kingdom of heaven, in this 
passage, denotes a state of things on the earth, under the 
gospel dispensation, and that it has no direct reference 
to the kingdom of glory, to which men shall be admitted 
in another life. If this be the meaning of the phrase, 
then although some failed to enter this kingdom, it by 
no means follows that they must be excluded from a 
state of happiness after the resurrection. Of course, 
the text affords no proof of the doctrine of endless mise- 
ry- 



24 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION II. 

1 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his 
baptism/ he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you 
to flee from the wrath to come.'— Matt. hi. 7. 

The parallel place is Luke iii. 7. These words of 
the Baptist have evident reference to a tremendous 
temporal calamity, about to be experienced by the 
Jewish nation. This fact is so very obvious, that al- 
most all the commentators of note, have admitted it. 
The phrase c wrath to come' has been of much service 
to certain zealous preachers, who have thought men 
might be more easily persuaded to embrace their faith by 
means of terror than otherwise. Such have unhesitat- 
ingly used this phrase, and even quoted this text, as de- 
scriptive of torments after death. But that this use of 
the passage is unauthorized, their own standard writers 
being judges, may be seen from the following quota- 
tions : 

1. Pearce. ' The wrath to come, — i. e. the punishment 
to come in the destruction of the Jewish state.' Com. in 
loc. 

2. Hammond. ' O ye, that are more like to broods of 
venemous creatures, than to the progeny of Abraham, 
who hath admonished you to make use of this means to 
escape the destruction approaching.' Para, in loc. 
See also Hammond's note on Matt. iii. 2. already quot- 
ed. 

3. Clarke. 'The wrath to come. The desolation 
which was about to fall on the Jewish nation for their 
wickedness, and threatened them in the last words of 
their own scriptures. See Mala. iv. 6. This wrath or 
curse was coming : they did not prevent it by turning 
to God, and receiving the Messiah, and therefore the 
wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost. Let 
him that readeth, understand.' Com. in loc. 

4. Lightfoot. 4 To fiy from theivrath to come. These 
words respect the very last words in the Old Testament, 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 25 

lest I come, and smite the earth with a curse, Mala, iv. 
6. and denote the most miserable destruction of the na- 
tion, and now almost ready to fall upon them. The re- 
ceiving of John's baptism signed, and fenced those that 
received it from the ruin that was just coming. To this 
belongs that of St. Pet. 1 Epist. iii. 20, 21, in that manner 
as Noah and his sons were by water delivered from the 
flood, so also baptism now, the antitype of that type, saveth 
us, from the deluge of divine indignation, which in a 
short time is to overthrow the Jewish nation. Those that 
are baptized are said to fly from the wrath to come; that 
is, the wrath of God, that was not long hence to destroy 
the nation by a most sad overthrow.' Heb. et Talm. 
Exerc. in loc. 

• Baptism was, besides other tendencies of it, as a 
badge, whereby those, that received it and stuck to it, 
were marked out for safety and preservation against that 
destruction, that was to come upon that nation for unbe- 
lief. Therefore John construes their coming to be bap- 
tized their * fleeing from the wrath to come :' and Peter, 
(1 Epist. iii. 21,) in the same sense, doth say, that 'bap- 
tism doth now save :' as the ark had done in the des- 
truction of the old world, so this from the destruction 
now coming : and to his admonition to ' repent, and be 
baptized,' he addeth, ' save yourselves from this unto- 
ward generation.' Acts ii. 40. Harm. Evan. Sect. ix. 

5. Kenrick. ' These sects, (the Pharisees and Saddu- 
cees,) John compares to broods of vipers ; a subtle and 
malicious creature — a character which, it appears from 
history, was extremely well suited to them : he also ex- 
presses his surprise, that they should do a thing corres- 
ponding so little with their temper and inclinations, as 
to come to his baptism, in order to avoid the impending 
punishment in the destruction of the Jewish state, which 
I suppose to be referred to by « the wrath to come.'* Ex- 
pos, in loc. 

Such are some of the testimonies in relation to the 
phrase c wrath to come/ furnished by commentators, 
who were most undoubting believers in a state of mise- 
ry after death. If divines at the present day would 
3 



26 SELECTIONS FROM 

thus explain this and the kindred phrases which occur 
in the scriptures, they might as effectually advance the 
cause of truth, and fewer weak minds would become 
delirious through fear of endless misery. 



SECTION III. 

1 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore every 
tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn dowfl ; and cast into the 
fire.' — Matt. hi. 10. 

The parallel place is Luke iii. 9. Under the figure 
of cutting down trees and casting them into the fire, the 
Baptist represents the severe judgment about to be ex- 
ecuted on the Jewish nation, which lie had before de- 
nominated the ' wrath to come.' This figure had in 
ancient times been used by the prophets, (See Isa. x 
33, 34. Jer. xlvi. 22, 23. Ezek. xxxi. 3, 10—12.. 
and was therefore very intelligible to the Jews. I need 
not go into the arguments in proof that this application 
of the passage is correct, inasmuch as there is such a 
universal agreement on the subject among standard 
commentators. In sermons and exhortations, a differ- 
ent interpretation is often given, but few are found will- 
ing to risk their reputation for biblical knowledge, by 
disputing publicly, what is so abundantly asserted in the 
following extracts : — 

1. Hammond. c But now are God's judgments come 
home to this people, and ready to seize upon the whole 
nation, and shall actually fall upon every unreformed 
sinner among you.' Para, in loc. 

2. Pearce. 'Vengeance it about to be taken upon the 
Jewish nation, ver. 17. and Matt. hi. 10.' Com. in Luke 
iii. 9. 

3. i Assembly's Annotations. c See on Matt. iii. 10. 
The metaphor showed them that the instruments of 
their destruction (such as were Titus and Vespasian) 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 27 

were near, and should quickly execute, except they re- 
pented,' (fee. Annot. in Luke iii. 9. 

4. Poole's Annotations. ' A prediction as some think 
of that dreadful destruction, which within a few years 
came, by the Romans, upon the whole Jewish nation. 
Whether it be to be understood of the judgment common 
to all unbelievers, all that know not God, and obey not 
the gospel of Christ, or of the particular destruction of 
this nation of the Jews, I shall not determine, though I 
rather judge the latter probable.' Annot. in loc. 

5. Beausobre and Lenfant. 'See Isa. x. 33, 34. In 
this place John the Baptist predicts the entire destruction 
of the Temple, the City, and the Nation, which came to 
pass about forty years after the death of Jesus Christ.' 
Com. in loc. 

6. Lightfoot. { These words seem to be taken from 
Isa. x. 33, 44. The destruction of the nation was to pro- 
ceed from the Romans, who had now a great while held 
them under the yoke. The axe now laid to the root of 
the tree, shall certainly cut it down, if, from this last 
dressing by the gospel, it bears not fruit. In the Talmud, 
those words of Isaiah are applied to the destruction of 
the city.' Heb. et Talm. Exerc. in loc. 

Again the same writer says, — ' This phrase may be 
understood as comparing the ruin of the Jews here 
threatened, with those desolations they had felt before : 
For then, as at the captivity of Babylon, for example, 
they were not utterly cut off from their land forever, but 
had a promise of returning, and returned, and were 
planted there again ; but now, the vengeance threatened 
must strike at the very root, and quite destroy them from 
being a nation forever, and from all hope of returning to 
their country any more. By the axe being noio laid to 
the root of the trees, may fitly be understood — 1. The 
certainty of their desolation ; and — 2. The nearness; 
in that the instrument of their destruction was already 
prepared, and brought close to them, the Romans that 
should ruin their city and nation, being already masters 
and rulers over them.' Harm, of Evan. Sec. ix. 

7. Clarke. ■ It was customary with the prophets, to 
represent the kingdoms, nations, and individuals, whose 
ruin they predicted, under the notion of forests and trees, 



28 SELECTIONS FROM 

doomed to be cut down. See Jer. xlvi. 22, 23. Ezek. 
xxxi. 3, 11, 12. The Baptist follows the same metaphor ; 
the Jewish nation is the tree, and the Romans the axe, 
which, by the just judgment of God, was speedily to cut 
it down. It has been well observed, that there is an al- 
lusion here to a woodman, who, having marked a tree 
for excision, lays his axe at its root, and strips off his 
outer garment, that he may wield his blows more power- 
fully ; and that his work may be quickly performed. For 
about sixty years before the coming of Christ, this axe 
had been lying at the root of the Jewish tree, Judea 
having been made a province to the Roman empire, from 
the time that Pompey took the city of Jerusalem, during 
the contentions of the two brothers Hyrcanus and Aris- 
tobulus, which was about sixty three years before the 
coming of Christ. See Josephus Antiq. 1. xiv. c. 1 — 5. 
But as the country might be still considered as in the 
hands of the Jews, though subject to the Romans, and 
God had waited on them now, nearly ninety years from 
the above time, expecting them to bring forth fruit, and 
none was yet produced ; but he kept the Romans, as an 
axe, lying at the root of this tree, who were ready to cut 
it down the moment God gave them the commission.' 
Com. in loc. 

8. Kenrick. ' The national calamities with which 
you are threatened, are no light evils, but such as, if you 
do not repent, shall be like cutting up the tree by the 
roots : for as barren trees, which bring forth no fruit, are 
hewn down and cast into the fire, so shall it be with you, 
if you perform not good works; your kingdom shall be 
overthrown, and the inhabitants of the land utterly ex- 
tirpated.' Expos, in loc. 

I here remark, once for all, that I have not been 
anxious to multiply authorities on those passages which, 
like this, contain parables. For an exposition of the 
true meaning of this class of texts, the reader is referred 
to ' Notes on the Parables/ by Rev. H. Ballou, and 
1 Notes and Illustrations of the Parables,' by Rev. T. 
Whittemore. Of the work last named, I understand a 
new, and much improved edition is to be published 
forthwith. In the former edition several testimonies 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 29 

were quoted from orthodox Commentators ; the next 
will contain many more. On those passages therefore 
which contain parables, I have contented myself with a 
few selections, leaving it for Mr. W. to complete the 
body of this testimony. 



SECTION IV, 



1 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and 
gather his wheat into the garner \ but he will burn up the chaff with un~ 
quenchable fire.' — Matt, hi, 12. 

The parallel place is Luke iii. 17. In these words, 
the Baptist represents the same temporal judgment of 
which he had before spoken, changing the figure mere- 
ly : — with this addition, — he had before spoken only of 
judgment and desolation; but he here speaks also of 
mercy and preservation. The meaning is, that when 
the son of man should come to judge the Jewish nation 
for their sins, those who believed in him, and gave dil- 
igent heed to his commandments, should be preserved 
from harm, while vengeance to the uttermost would 
come on the unbelieving persecuting Jews. The event 
proved the truth of the prediction ; for while the faith- 
ful escaped, the obdurate Jews, almost to a man, were 
either destroyed by death, at the overthrow of their chief 
city by the Romans, or carried into captivity. As they 
suffered such a total destruction, from which as a nation 
they have not at this day recovered, (and God only 
knoweth when the period of their dispersion shall be ac- 
complished,) the fire might well be said to be unquen- 
chable ; or, which is the same thing, the vengeance 
was effectual. The following extracts will show in what 
light others have viewed this parable : — 

1. Pearce. ' In this whole verse, the destruction of 
3* 



30 SELECTIONS FROM 

the Jewish state is expressed in the terms of husbandmen ; 
and by the wheat's being gathered into the garner, seems 
meant, that the believers in Jesus should not be involved 
in the calamity.' Com. in loc. 

2. Hammond. After illustrating the manner, in which 
the eastern nations winnowed grain, and noticing some 
other things to which this passage alludes, Dr. Ham- 
mond closes his note thus ; — ' According to this notion of 
winnowing, and burning the chaff, this verse accords with 
the general matter of John Baptist's preaching, viz. 
Christ's rich promises of all merciful reception, and pre- 
servation to those that shall repent and receive the gos- 
pel ; and threatening of all judgments upon the impeni- 
tent Jews, formerly expressed by the kingdom of God ap- 
proaching, and again by the axe laid to the root of the 
tree, ready to hew it down, and that attended with casting 
into the fire, as here the chaff is with burning with fire 
unquenchable. And so it was fulfilled on the Jews even 
in this life, (as it was oft foretold,) the godly true pen- 
itents that received Christ, through these tribulations, 
were preserved, when the rest that could not bear, or 
hold out the trial, all that the wind of temptation, false 
doctrines, &c. carried aw T ay, were generally destroyed; 
the corn laid up in a garner, and the chaf devoured with 
the fire. 9 Annot. in loc. 

3. Lightfoot. This Theological giant applies this 
passage to the circumstances of the Jews, not precisely 
like the authors before cited, but arrives at very nearly 
the same conclusion : — with this exception, — he under- 
stands gathering the wheat into the garner, to mean the re- 
ceiving of the righteous into a state of happiness after 
death. But it is to be observed that he was not led to this 
conclusion by any thing existing in the text or even the 
context. But he imagined the parable of the reheat and 
tares implied the happiness and misery of different char- 
acters after death ; and supposing this parable of the fan 
to be somewhat similar, he judged such might be the 
spiritual meaning of this also. He does not, however, 
say that misery after death, is here indicated, but only 
the future rew r ard of the righteous. Were it not for the 
circumstance already named, he says, ' Seeing that the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 31 

main intent of the verse is to show forth the destruction 
of Jerusalem, as is proved before, by these words might 
well be understood the care and charge that God took of 
his faithful ones in that ruin, when by the warning voice 
in the temple, that said, Migremus hinc, let us flit hence, 
he removed them to Pella, far enough distant from the 
danger.' Harm. Evan. Sec. ix. 

Thus it would seem that, taking the passage in its 
own immediate connexion, Dr. Lightfoot thought it 
plainly referred to the temporal destruction of the un- 
believing Jews, and the preservation cf the believers: 
and he was induced to think it might have a different 
application only by fancying that another parable, which 
he supposed to be of similar import, had allusion to the 
future life. 

The unquenchable fire. Dr. Lightfoot does not here 
explain : but the following remark, on another passage, 
indicates with sufficient plainness, what were his views. 
On the text, The day shall declare it because it shall be 
revealed by fire, he says, — 

6 Two things shall discover every man's work, the day 
and the^re. Both which you may not understand amiss 
of the word of God manifesting and proving all things. 
For the light of the gospel is very frequently called the 
day, and the law of God called fire. Deut. xxxiii. 2. 

But I had rather in this place understand by the day, 
the day of the Lord, that was shortly coming, and by fire 
the fire of divine indignation to be poured out upon the 
Jewish nation. And I am the more inclined to this in- 
terpretation because there is so frequent remembrance of 
that day and fire in the Holy Scriptures.' Heb. et Talm. 
Excerc. in 1 Cor. iii. 13. 

4. Cappe. « Thus, to the prediction of the appearing, 
and the manifestation of the Messiah, this part of the 
Baptist's testimony adds also the prediction of a dis- 
crimination to be made among the people of the Jews : 
to those who should receive him, a promise of the Holy 
Spirit, with security amidst the calamities, which were 
impending over Judea ; to those who should reject him, 
the denunciation of a fatal share in the general desola- 



32 SELECTIONS FROM 

tion of that coming of the Son of man.'' Crit. Rem. vol. ii. 
p. 142. 

5. Clarke* ' Whose fan is in his hand: The Romans are 
here termed God's fan, as in ver. 10, they were termed his 
axe; and in chap, xxii.7, theyare termed his troops or armies. 
His floor. — Does not this mean the land of Judea,vrhich has 
been long, as it were, the threshing floor of the Lord? 
God says he will now, by the winnowing fan, [viz. the 
Romans,] thoroughly cleanse this floor ; — the wheat those 
who believe in the Lord Jesus, he will gather into his gar- 
ner, either take to heaven from the evil to come, or put 
in a place of safety, as he did the christians, by sending 
them to Pella, in Coelosyria, previously to the destruction 
of Jerusalem. But he will burn up the chaff — the disobe- 
dient and rebellious Jews, who would not come unto 
Christ that they might have life. Unquenchable fire : — that 
cannot be extinguished by man? Com. in loc. 

6. Kenrick. ' In this whole verse, the destruction of 
Jerusalem is expressed in the terms of husbandmen. 
The worthless part of the nation, disliking that excellent 
system of religion which he (Jesus) introduced, would 
reject him : but the virtuous part of the people would 
believe in him. The former are to be visited with the 
most terrible judgments, which are expressed in prophet- 
ic language by inextinguishable fire; (see Isa. xli. 16.) 
which prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of Jeru- 
salem by the Romans : but the Christians were preserved 
in safety ; having, in conformity with the warning and 
directions of Christ, retired from the city when it was 
besieged.' Exjp&s., in loc* 



SECTION V. 



i From that time? Jestrs began to preach, and to say ; Repent ; for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand. — Matt. iv. 12. 

This passage is almost precisely the same as Matt. iii. 
2, and therefore the notes on that, are equally applicable 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 33 

to this. See particularly Hammond's note, in which he 
refers to this passage. The Continuators of Poole's An- 
notations and divers other commentators, allow this text 
to be of the same import as the other. The translators 
of the New Testament which was published in 1729, 
(Greek and English) show what they understood by the 
kingdom of heaven, in this case, by translating thus: — 
' Repent, for the kingdom of the Messiah draws nigh.' 

I have before said, that in order to make a phrase of 
this kind imply, or appear to imply endless misery, it 
has been assumed that the kingdom of heaven signifies 
the kingdom of glory after the resurrection, (see remarks 
on Mat. iii. 2.) In addition to the authority there quo- 
ted, on the import of this phrase, I offer the following ; 
in which, it will be perceived, although three distinct 
significations are named, that which is often assumed is 
not of the number. 

Lightfoot. ' Nor doth this manner of arguing, ' Re- 
pent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand/ suit only with 
the Jews' own maxim and opinion, and so might convince 
and win them the sooner ; but it also agrees, most proper- 
ly, with the nature of the 'kingdom of heaven' itself. For 
1. If, by the term, be understood the coming and appear- 
ing of the Messiah, (as that, indeed, is the first sense of 
it,) what fitter entertainment of his appearing than re- 
pentance 1 For men, when he came to save them from 
their sins, Matt. i. 21, to repent of their sins, — and when 
he came as the true light, to forsake their dark ways, — 
and when the Lord, by the appearance of Christ for man's 
redemption, did show, as it were, that he repented of evil 
against man ; — how fit was it for man to meet this great 
mercy, by repenting of his own evil ! And 2. If the term 
* kingdom of heaven' be taken for the state of the church 
and religion, under the appearance of Christ and the 
gospel, in comparison of what it was under the ceremo- 
nious administrations in the law, — there could be no fitter 
entertainment of it than by repentance ; namely, by wash- 
ing, purifying or sacrificing, the heart, when there was 
no other washing, purifying or sacrificing, in religion to 



34 SELECTIONS FROM 

be had, and such external ceremonies should be gone out 
of date. 3. And lastly, if, by this phrase, be meant the 
' kingdom of Christ among the Gentiles, and their calling 
by the gospel,' (as it also reacheth that sense,) it was a 
proper kind of arguing used to the Jews, to move them 
to repentance, — by minding them of the calling of the 
Gentiles, whose calling in they knew, would be their own 
casting off, if they repented not.' Harm. Evan, part iii. 
sect. xix. 



SECTION VI. 



' Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt have lost its savour, where- 
with shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out 
and to be trodden under foot of men. ' Matt. v. 13. 

The parallel places are Mark ix. 49, 50. Luke xiv. 
34, 35. As the passage in Mark contains a clause not 
found in the other Evangelists, I quote that also : — 

'For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be 
salted with salt. Salt is good : but if the salt have lost its saltness, where- 
with will ye season it 1 Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with 
another.' 

In these words, Jesus assures his disciples, that the 
doctrine, which he had delivered to them, and which 
they were to communicate to the world, is of a cleans- 
ing, purifying nature. It will preserve mankind from the 
corruption of sin. But in order that men should embrace 
this doctrine, and experience its beneficial effects, it was 
necessary that the apostles should have salt in them- 
selves ; that is, that they should manifest, by the purity 
of their lives, the wholesome nature of the doctrine they 
preached. If they failed in this, their labors would be 
useless, and they, like unsavoury salt, would justly merit 
the neglect and contempt of mankind. In this exposi- 
tion, the following commentators substantially agree. 

h Tomson's Beza. * Salt of the earth ; Your doctrine 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 35 

must be very sound and good, for if it be not so, it shall 
be nought set by, and cast away as a thing unsavoury and 
vain. 

Wherewith shall it be salted ? What shall you have to 
salt withal 1 And so are fools, in the Latin tongue, called 
saltless, as you would say, men that have no salt, or sa- 
vour, and taste in them.' Note in loc. 

2. Gilpin. ' Salt is good ; but if what ought to be 
preserved by it, is indisposed to receive its seasoning, no 
effect can be produced.- Attend carefully to what I say, 
and let it have its due influence on your minds ' Expos* 
in Luke xiv. 34, 35. 

3. Assembly's Annotations. ' Salt of the earth ; I 
have chosen you to season and preserve those who are 
corruptible by sin ; as salt suffereth not flesh to corrupt, 
so wholesome doctrine worketh with the mind ; reprove 
them therefore, that they may be saved ; though you dis- 
please some thereby, and surfer persecution for the same ; 
yet be you so savoury in yourselves, and by good exhor- 
tations help to season others, with the salt of grace, that 
they may be pleasing to God. Col. iv. 6. Eph. iv. 29. 

But if the salt : It may be understood of ministers, or 
of private christians, who are spoken of before, and in the 
following words. 

Have lost his savour : Become foolish ; the unsavouri- 
ness of salt is, (as Euthimius saith,) the weakness of its 
acrimony : the meaning is, if you have not grace in you, 
and zeal to reprove sinners. 

Wherewith shall it be salted? As nothing else can re- 
cover the taste of salt once lost; so, bad ministers cannot 
easily be mended by others. 

Good for nothing : Other things may be good for some- 
what else, when they decay; salt cannot. So it is with 
unsavoury ministers, and relapsing sinners. 

To be cast out : Of the church, as unprofitable. 

To be trodden under foot : as not good for any use, see 
Luke xiv. 35. xxi. 34.' Annot. in loc. 

4. Macknight. ' If ye, whose business it is to reform 
mankind, be wicked yourselves, ye cannot be reclaimed^ 
but will be the most useless and contemptible of men.' 
Harm. Evan. sect. xxvi. 



36 SELECTIONS FROM 

5. Theophylact. * To be cast out: From the digni- 
ty of teachers. 

Trodden underfoot : That is, despised.' 

Some have understood the passage in Mark to im- 
ply misery after death, particularly the phrase, salted 
with fire. But that there is sufficient orthodox author- 
ity for applying these words to the concerns of this life, 
the following quotations will show : — 

1. Tomson's Beza. 'We must be seasoned and pow- 
dered, by God, both that we may be acceptable sacri- 
fices unto him, and also that we, being knit together, 
may season one another. 

Salted with fire: that is, shall be consecrate to God,be- 
ing seasoned with the incorruptible word.' Note in loc. 

2. Gilpin. c As the sacrifice is purified by salt ; so is 
the professor of the gospel by his trials. The great 
truths you receive, are in themselves good : be you pro- 
perly prepared to dispense them.' Expos, in loc. 

3. Macknight. < Every one shall be salted for the fire 
of God's altar ; i. e. shall be prepared to be offered a 
sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable. For although the 
proposition be universal, it must be limited by the nature 
of the subject, thus ; Every one who is offered a sacri- 
fice to God, shall be salted for the fire, as every sacrifice 
is salted with salt.' Harm. Evan. sec. lxxiii. 

It will be observed that Macknight is so far from sup- 
posing this passage to imply endless misery after death, 
that he thinks it necessary to qualify it somewhat, to 
prevent his readers from concluding that it teaches abso- 
lute universal salvation. All these authors understand 
the fire, with which men were to be salted, to signify, 
not the fire of hell, but either the gracious influence 
of God's spirit, or the indirect influence of that same 
spirit, manifested in the trials to which their faith was sub- 
jected. To the same effect is the following : — 

4. Beausobre and Lenfant. ' The crosses, afflictions 
and severe sacrifices, occasioned by the practice of piety 
and the profession of true Christianity, are here compared 
to fire ; even to a fire which produces the same effect on 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 37 

the mind, which salt produces on flesh : — preserving it 
from corruption.' Com, in loc. 

I only add that we may judge what these writers in- 
tend by being offered a sacrifice to God, by examining 
the passage to which I suppose Macknight particularly 
refers, i. e. Rom. xii. 1, 'I beseech you, therefore, 
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your 
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, 
which is your reasonable service.' Comp. Hebrews, x. 
19.— 23. 



SECTION VII. 

1 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the 
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into 
the kingdom of heaven. 7 — Matt. v. 20. 

For a tolerably full exposition of the phrase king- 
dom of heaven, see Hammond's note on Matt. iii. 2 : see 
also Lightfoofs note on Matt.iv. 17. It seems to have 
been used, not precisely as the word church is now used, 
but in a sense somewhat similar. It denoted that state 
of things in the world, which was produced by the min- 
istry of Jesus Christ ; a state of things existing, not in 
the next life, but in the present. Hence Jesus said to the 
Jews, ( the kingdom of God is within you,' Luke xvii. 19, 
20. And again, < the kingdom of God shall be taken 
from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits 
thereof,' Matt. xxi. 43. Hence, to enter the kingdom 
of heaven, is to become a disciples of Jesus ; to believe 
his gospel ; to submit to his laws ; to conform to his re- 
quirements ; and thus to become entitled to all the privi- 
leges and immunities of discipleship. See the notes on 
John iii. 3, 5. It may not be improper to add, that 
kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God, (and certain 
others,) are used by the Evangelists as convertible terms : 
4 



38 SELECTIONS FROM 

what one expresses by one phrase, another describes by 
the other. Comp. Matt. iv. 17, with Mark i. 15 : Matt, 
v. 3, with Luke vi. 20, &c. 

The righteousness of the Pharisees was external, con- 
sisting in ceremonies and observances,which did not puri- 
fy the heart : see Matt, xxiii. the whole chapter. The 
kingdom of heaven, which Jesus came to establish, was 
designed to operate on the heart; and its laws required not 
only propriety in external behaviour, but purity of inten- 
tion. See this point very fully illustrated in that compen- 
dium of all christian duty, the Sermon on the mount, re- 
corded in Matt, v, vi, and vii. It was with reference to this 
feature in its character, and to the blessed effects, which 
conformity to its spirit produces, that the apostle said, — 
'The kingdom of God is not meat and drink : but right- 
eousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' Rom. 
xiv. 17. 

To be unable to enter the kingdom of heaven, then, 
as the phrase is here used, does not imply the impossi- 
bility of salvation in the future life ; but the inability of 
becoming true disciples, in the present life. Doubtless, 
the blessed in the future life will be holy. But with 
this subject, the text under consideration has no immedi- 
ate concern. I proceed to quote a few authorities, in 
agreement with this exposition ;— 

1. Gilpin. In his paraphrase of this verse, Gilpin re- 
tains the phrase kingdom of heaven ; but he elsewhere 
gives his opinion of its import as follows r*^— 

1 Jesus told him, that his doctrine lay in a very short 
compass. A man, said he, must be born again, before 
he can be a member of my kingdom. Nicodemus not 
comprehending the expression, Jesus explained himself, 
by saying, that no body could be his disciple, who, after 
professing himself such by baptism,' &c. ( See the place.) 
Expos, in John iii. 3 — 5. 

2. Henry. This writer gives the phrase, kingdom of 
heaven, both significations, the gospel kingdom on earth, 
and the kingdom of glory, in the life to come; but prefers 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 39 

the former, as may appear from the following remark on 
ver. 19, — 

4 He that doth so shall be called least in the kingdom of 
heaven, in the kingdom of glory : he shall never come 
thither, but be eternally excluded : or rather, in the kingdom 
of the gospel church. He is so far from deserving the dig- 
nity of a teacher in it, that he shall not so much as be 
accounted a member of it. The prophet that teacheth 
these lies, he shall be the tail in that kingdom, Isa. ix. 15. 
<fcc.' Com. in he* 

3. Beza. * Ye shall in no case enter : That is, ye shall 
be unworthy to teach in the church: for this is said, not 
of the pious indiscriminately, but of the teachers alone : 
and by the phrase kingdom of heaven is intended, not the 
church triumphant, (as is vulgarly said) but the church 
militant; and as yet needing the service of teachers.' 
Annot. in he. 

4. Jones. (19) c Observe he is speaking of persons 
* who shall be called the least,' who shall be held in the 
lowest esteem, in the kingdom of heaven, i. e. under the 
christian dispensation.' 

(20) 'He therefore informs his hearers that, unless 
their moral conduct exceeds that of the Pharisees, they 
shall by no means be considered as members of the new 
dispensation, nor entitled to the blessed fruits of it.' Il- 
lustrations, 4*c. sect. xL 



SECTION VIII. 



' Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill ; 
and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment : But I say 
unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall 
be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, 
Raca. shall be in danger of the council 3 but whosoever shall say, Thou 
fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. ; Matt. v. 21, 22. 

This is a passage, which orthodox commentators, 
generally, understand to imply the doctrine of endless 
misery. Yet it is to be observed, that nearly all of them 



40 SELECTIONS FROM 

allow that the doctrine is here taught by implication only . 
And before quoting their remarks, it may be well to 
point out what they consider to be matter of fact, and 
what they themselves allow to be matter of mere in- 
ference from the language of Jesus. As this has been 
done very plainly and fairly by the gentleman who I 
have already said, formerly commenced a work, similar 
to this in which I am now engaged, I avail myself of his 
words : — 

c Let the reader observe, in the first place, that these 
authors all agree on the following, as matter of fact, viz. 
that the Hell-Jire or, the Gehenna of fire, mentioned in 
this verse, was really the fire of the valley of Hinnom, 
just as the council, here mentioned, was the great Jewish 
Sanhedrin, composed of seventy two elders, and just as 
the judgment, in this place, was the decision of the infe- 
rior court of twenty three. So much they lay down as 
matter of fact. But if, as is probable, our Saviour here 
used all these terms, judgment, council and hell-fire, as 
metaphors, then he of course meant by them, something 
else than what they literally express, and intended to 
teach that he who is angry with his brother without a 
cause should be in danger, not actually of the judgment, 
nor that he who should say to his brother, Raca, should 
be in danger of the council, nor that he who should say, 
thou fool, should literally be in danger of hell-fire ; but 
that they should be in danger of some punishment cor- 
responding with these several corporeal penalties. Let 
the reader now observe, in the second place, that the 
way in which those critics infer the threatening of future 
punishment from this text, is, by taking it for granted, 
according to their general system of doctrine, not from 
the passage itself, that the retributions alluded to in the 
several metaphors, were to be reserved for eternity. 
This is their opinion, unsupported by a single word in 
the text, according to their own explanation of it. For 
all that I can discover, the judgment of the inferior court, 
the sentence of the great Sanhedrin, and the burning 
alive in the valley of Hinnom, when used as metaphors, 
may quite as naturally denote sufferings in this world, as 
in the next.' Trumpet ii. 81. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 41 

The reader will do well to keep the preceding obser- 
vations in view, while he attends to the following ex- 
tracts : 

1. Clarke. ' Shall be in danger of the judgment ; shall 
be liable to the judgment. That is, to have the matter 
brought before a senate, composed of twenty three magis- 
trates, whose business it was to judge in cases of murder 
and other capital crimes. It punished criminals by 
strangling, or beheading J &c. 

1 The council; the famous council, known among the 
Jews by the name of Sanhedrin. It was composed of 
seventy two elders, six chosen out of each tribe. This 
grand Sanhedrin not only received appeals from the in- 
ferior Sanhedrins, or court of twenty three, mentioned 
above ; but could alone take cognizance, in the first in- 
stance, of the highest crimes, and alone inflict the pun- 
ishment of stoning. 

Shall be in danger of hell fire ; shall be liable to the hell 
of fire. Our Lord here alludes to the valley of the son of 
Hinnom. This place was near Jerusalem, and had been 
formerly used for those abominable sacrifices in which 
the idolatrous Jews had caused their children to pass 
through the fire to Moloch. A particular place in this 
valley was called Tophet, from (Hebrew) tophet, the fire 
stove, in which some suppose they burnt their children 
alive to the above idol. See 2d Kings xxiii. 10. 2d 
Chron. xxvii. 3. Jer. vii. 31, 32. From the circum- 
stance of this valley having been the scene of those in- 
fernal sacrifices, the Jews, in our Saviour's time, used the 
word for hell, the place of the damned. See the word ap- 
plied in this sense in the Targum* on Ruth ii. 12. Ps. 
cxl. 12. Gen. iii. 24. and xv. 17. It is very probable 
that our Lord means no more here than this ; if a man 
charge another with apostacy from the Jewish religion, 
or rebellion against God, and cannot prove his charge, 
then he is exposed to that punishment, (burning alive,) 
which the other must have suffered, if the charge had 
been substantiated. There are three offences here, which 

* The reader should recollect that it is disputed whether any Targum 
now in existence was written so early as the days of Christ. 

4* 



42 



SELECTIONS FROM 



exceed each other in their degrees of guilt. (1.) Anger 
against a man, accompanied with some injurious act. 
(2.) Contempt , expressed by the opprobrious epithet 
raca, or shallow brains. (3.) Hatred and mortal enmity, 
expressed by the term moreh, or apostate, where such 
apostacy could not be proved. 

Now proportioned to these three offences, were three 
different degrees of punishment, each exceeding the other 
in its severity, as the offences exceeded each other in 
their different degrees of guilt. (1.) The judgment, the 
council of twenty three, which could inflict the punish- 
ment of strangling. (2.) The Sanhedrin, or great coun- 
cil, which could inflict the punishment of stoning. And 
(3.) the being burnt alive in the valley of the son of Hin- 
nom. This appears to be the meaning of our Lord.' 
Com. in loe. 

After thus giving a literal explanation of the passage, 
as a matter of fact, Dr. Clarke proceeds to give his 
opinion of the secret or concealed sense of the words. 
Of course, he considers them emblematical of misery in 
the future life ; but this, it will be recollected, was his 
opinion, which he had perfect liberty to enjoy, and 
which others have equal liberty to receive or reject. 

2. Parkhurst. Rev. Mr. Parkhurst, in his Lexicon, 
refering to this passage, says ' the phrase here translated 
hell-fire (literally gehenna of Jire) does, I apprehend, in 
its outward and primary sense, relate to that dreadful 
doom of being burnt alive in the valley of Hinnom;'' he 
adds, (for what reason he does not inform us,) ' that this, 
as well as the other degrees of punishment mentioned in 
the context, must, as Dr. Doddridge has remarked, be 
ultimately referred to the invisible world.' 

3. Wynne. ' This alludes to the three degrees of pun- 
ishment usual among the Jews, viz. civil punishment in- 
flicted by the judges or elders at the gate : excommuni- 
cation pronounced by the great ecclesiastical council or 
Sanhedrim ; and burning to death, like those who were 
sacrificed to devils in the valley of Hinnom, or Tophet, 
where the idolatrous Israelites used to offer their child- 
ren to Moloch.' Note in loc. 

4. Wakefield. ' What our Saviour intends by these 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 43 

specific references to Jewish institutions, is generally this : 
my religion requires so much more purity of heart, and 
strictness of manners, than the Jewish, that calumniating 
language from a Christian shall he esteemed equal to ac- 
tual crimes of the deepest dye in other men : and the 
murder of a brother's good name, as heinous as the murder 
of his body has been hitherto regarded.' Note in loc. 

He does not inform us whether he supposes the pun- 
ishment belongs to this life, or the next ; nor whether 
the crime of murder, by the Mosaic law, was supposed 
to involve punishment after death. He agrees with the 
others, however, in supposing the outivard and primary 
sense of the words to have specific reference to Jewish 
institutions. 

5. Macknight. ' The fire of the valley of Hinnom. 
The valley of Hinnom, called also Tophet, was the scene 
of the detestable worship of Moloch, that horrid idol, to 
whom the Israelites burnt their children alive as sacri- 
fices. In after-times continual fires were kept in this 
valley for burning the unburied carcasses and filth of the 
city, that being thus polluted, h might be unfit for the 
like religious abominations. Kimchi, in Ps. xxvii. The 
prophet Jeremiah is thought to have had these fires in 
his eye, ch. vii. 32, 33. xix. 11 — 13. The Jews, from 
the perpetuity of them, and to express the utmost detes- 
tation of the sacrifices which were offered to Moloch in 
this valley, made use of its name to signify Hell. Ac- 
cordingly we find Isaiah describing hell under the name 
of Tophet, and by images drawn from it, ch. xxx. 33. 
Induced I suppose by these considerations, the transla- 
tors of the Bible have given Tophet, or Gehenna, its met- 
aphorical meaning in the passage above, whereas it 
ought rather to have had its literal signification. For 
our Lord intended to show his hearers that the punish- 
ment of causeless anger, contemptuous speeches, and 
abusive names, shall in the life to come, bear a proportion 
to the guilt that is in these sins ; and finding no names 
in the language of men, by which those different degrees 
of punishment could properly be expressed, he illustrated 
them by the punishments which the Jews were acquaint- 



44 SELECTIONS FROM 

ed with. This interpretation of the punishment in the 
latter clause of the verse, has a particular advantage at- 
tending it, as it prevents the reader from imagining that 
only the sin of calling his brother a fool, will be punished 
with hell-fire.' Harm. Evan. Sect. 26. 

Thus Macknight allows that gehenna, as well as judg- 
ment and council, is here used in its literal sense, indicating 
the punishment of being burnt alive in the valley of Hin- 
nom. And then by a metaphorical use of these terms, 
he conveys the punishment, indicated by them all, into 
the future life. Let the reader once more be cautioned 
to distinguish between what is stated, by any Commen- 
tator, as matter of fact, and what is stated as matter of 
opinion. 

6. Heylin. c The tribunal of the judges, and that of 
the Sanhedrim, were different courts of judicature, where- 
of the latter took cognizance of the greater crimes. For 
hell-fire the original has Gehenna of fire. Gehenna was 
a valley near Jerusalem, which was used for a lay -stall, 
and where a continual fire was kept, to consume such 
impurities, as might otherwise infect the air. These 
three, the tribunal of the judges, of the Sanhedrim, and 
gehenna of fire, intimate different penalties, which offen- 
ders, in each case, would respectively be liable to ; and 
the last imports a very heavy one.' Lect. in loc. 

Heylin gives no intimation here, (nor elsewhere, so 
far as I have examined,) that, in this passage, Jesus 
speaks of punishments in another life. 

7. Rosenmuller. Gehenna is a Hebrew word deno- 
ting a place near Jerusalem, in which the Israelites, 
giving themselves up to idolatry, sacrificed children to a 
heated image of Moloch, which represented the form of 
an ox. This place, the valley of Hinnom, the Jews af- 
terwards so detested, that they were accustomed to cast 
into it the unburied carcasses of those whom they desired 
to punish with unusual severity. It is called a gehenna 
of fire because Josiah, in order to render the valley of 
Hinnom more odious, commanded that filth and dead 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 45 

carcasses should be cast into it; for the burning of which 
there was kept a perpetual fire. 2d Kings xxiii. 10, et 
seq. It therefore denotes the highest degree of punish- 
ment, exceeding that of the sword, and stoning. The 
Jews, indeed, called hell by this name. But such does 
not appear to be its signification in this place ; because, 
if it were, the punishment of hell would be contradistin- 
guished from the divine judgment, of which, it is rather 
a part, or one species. Their opinion, therefore, seems 
more correct, who choose to interpret the passage thus ; 
he shall be worthy, (or he shall deserve) to he burnt a- 
live in the valley of Hinnom. For although it may not be 
proved, by sufficiently authentic evidence, that burning 
alive was practiced by the Jews, yet it is certain that in 
that place dead bodies were burned, as a mark of ig- 
nominy.' Scholia in loc. 

Before dismissing this text, I ought to mention that 
orthodox writers, of the present day, have allowed them- 
selves, either ignorantly or wickedly, to misrepresent the 
views of Universalists relative to Gehenna. They have 
represented them as believing that this word is invariably- 
used, by the sacred writers, in its literal sense, to signify 
the valley of Hinnom ; and that ihe punishment of Ge- 
henna is a literal burning in that valley. So far as my 
knowledge extends, no Universalist has expressed such 
an opinion. The charge is unfounded, and utterly 
gratuitous. Universalists believe this word is used to 
denote figuratively a state of severe torment ; but they 
do not believe it is ever used, in the Scriptures, to de- 
note endless torment in the future life. This is the 
'head and front of their offending.' 

This method of misrepresentation was adopted by 
Professor Stuart, in his Exegetical Essays. Since the 
publication of that work, the same method has been 
pursued by another antagonist of Universalism. In re- 
lation to the writer here alluded to, I simply remark, if 
he has as much knowledge of the doctrine and arguments 
of Universalists as he would have us believe, he can 
have no reasonable excuse for his gross misrepresenta- 



46 SELECTIONS FROM 

tions of both ; but if his misrepresentations are to be 
attributed to his ignorance, ' less boasting' and c more 
modesty' would become him. 

I might name other writers, who have been guilty of 
the same fault, in a greater or less degree ; but it is un- 
necessary. In relation to all such, it is sufficient to 
quote the well merited rebuke given by Rev. W. Bal- 
four, to Professor Stuart : — 

1 It was an unpardonable mistake, or oversight, in you, 
to represent, as you have done, that Universalists attach 
no other sense to the term gehenna, but the literal valley of 
Hinnom. All the plausibility you give to your views of 
gehenna in the New Testament, is founded on this mis- 
representation. It does no honor to your head, your 
heart, or general character.' 

1 Dr. Allen was so candid as to say, of what I wrote on 
Matt, xxiii. 33. — ' This is the only passage in Scripture, 
in which the word gehenna is used, where there is some 
little appearance of argument, that the punishment re- 
ferred to, may be a temporal punishment.' But instead 
of candor, you repeat your misrepresentation thus, — 
' Does the Saviour mean here to ask, How can ye escape 
being burned alive in the valley of Hinnom] Were they 
in any danger of this?' I answer, — The Jews were in no 
danger of this. But I ask in turn, were they in no dan- 
ger of the fearful judgment of God, predicted by Jere- 
miah, under the emblem of the valley of Hinnom ? I al- 
so ask you, sir, — Did Jeremiah, or any other prophet, 
predict under the emblem of the valley of Hinnom, that 
the Jews were in danger of your hell? If this is done, 
why betake yourself, for authority, to Talmudic and 
Rabbinic writers ?' Balfour's Reply to Stuart, p. 220, 
and note, p. 221. 

I sincerely hope if another attack shall be made 
on Universalism, in which, as usual, so much reliance 
shall be placed on the word gehenna, the writer will 
apply himself to the task of showing that the views 
which Universalists do entertain are false; and not, like 
others, first setup a 'man of straw,' and then display 
his courage and dexterity in beating it down. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 47 

SECTION IX. 

1 Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with 
him 5 lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge ; and the 
judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I 
say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast 
paid the uttermost farthing. — Matt. v. 25 — 26. 

The parallel place is Luke xii. 58, 59. The scope of 
this passage is so very obvious, it seems strange that any 
should have misunderstood it. It manifestly has rela- 
tion to the importance of living at peace with all men ; 
and (since offences will come) of attempting to settle 
amicably all disputes which may arise, before they are 
pushed to extremity. But some are so fond of spirit- 
ualizing, that they have forced a spiritual meaning from 
this passage also. And, what is rather amusing, they 
differ very much in relation to the person indicated by 
the adversary ; some believing this term to represent 
God, others, the devil. It would be astonishing, if Je- 
sus intended to represent either, that he should use such 
language, that men could not determine to w T hich it is 
most applicable. The true reason for this difficulty, 
however, exists, not in the language of Jesus, but in the 
false representations men have given of the character of 
God. Having obscured the brightness of his glory, they 
find it difficult to distinguish between his countenance, 
and that of the devil. The following quotations will ex- 
hibit the testimony of approved writers, that this pas- 
sage is descriptive of temporal affairs, having relation to 
earthly, human adversaries, and actions : — 

1. Dutch Annotations. ' Be quickly minded towards 
thine adversary ; that is, bear with, or agree with him, 
that for debt or otherwise goes to law with thee.' An- 
not. in loc. 

2. Pearce. ' Do thy endeavour to make it up with 
him, as we express it. See Luke xii. 58. This (25th) 
and the next verse mean to show the temporal hazard 
which men run, when they quarrel ; though perhaps 



48 SELECTIONS FROM 

with a further view to the case between God and every 
sinner.' Com, in loc. 

The Bishop allows the obvious meaning of this text 
to be its true meaning, though, contrary to his usual cus- 
tom, he is disposed to search for a hidden or concealed 
sense. , 

3. Tomson's Beza. ' To thejayler (officer) ; To him 
that had to gather the amercements, which they were con- 
demned unto, that had wrongfully troubled men : more- 
over the magistrates' officers make them which are con- 
demned pay that, that they owe, yea and oftentimes, if 
they be obstinate, they do not only take the costs and 
charges of them, but also imprison them.' Note in Luke 
xii. 58, 59. 

4. Rosenmuller. ' Jesus teaches that suits at law are 
to be avoided, or speedily settled ; it is more safe for thee 
to pay thy creditor more than thou owest, than to have 
the case brought before a magistrate ; for it often hap- 
pens, that he who has even a good cause, is defeated.' 
Scholia in loc. 

5. Clarke. ' Adversary, properly a plaintiff in law ; 
a perfect law-term. Our Lord enforces the exhortation 
given in the preceding verses from the consideration of 
what was deemed prudent in ordinary law-suits. In such 
cases, men should make up matters with the utmost 
speed, as running through the whole course of a law-suit, 
must not only be vexatious, but be attended with great 
expense ; and in the end, though the loser may be ruined, 
yet the gainer has nothing.' 

The remainder of this note is exceedingly curious. 
Dr. Clarke, like others, was disposed to allegorize ; and 
he proceeded thus : 

1 A good use of this very prudential advice of our Lord, 
is this : Thou art a sinner. God hath a controversy with 
thee. There is but a step between thee and death. Now 
is the accepted time. Thou art invited to return to God 
by Christ Jesus. Come immediately at his call, and he 
will save thy soul. Delay not ! Eternity is at hand ; 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 49 

and if thou die in thy sins, where God is, thou shalt nev- 
er come.' 

Having delivered himself of his allegory, (if he does 
not curse the day in which it was born,) he condemns 
himself without mercy, for departing so widely from the 
true sense of the passage. The wonder is, that he let 
the allegory remain, after writing the words which im- 
mediately follow, to wit : — 

1 Those who make the adversary, God ; the judge, 
Christ ; the officer, death ; and the prison, hell, abuse the 
passage, and highly dishonor God.' Com. in loc. 



SECTION X. 



' And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee : 
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not 
that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand of- 
fend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee : for it is profitable for thee that 
one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be 
cast into hell. 7 — Matt. v. 29—30. 

The parallel place is Mark ix. 43 — 48, and a similar 
form of expression occurs Matt, xviii. 8, 9. On the 
passage here quoted, I shall again avail myself of the 
language of the gentleman, to whom I have more than 
once alluded. He writes thus.s — 

1 We have at length arrived at a text, in which all the 
orthodox writers, so far as I am acquainted with them, 
agree that the word hell means a place or state of eternal 
torment, in the future world. But there are certain facts, 
admitted by all of them, which are worthy of the reader's 
attention. The term here translated hell, is in the origi- 
nal, gehenna, of which the origin, history, and use, as now 
understood by the learned, may be discovered from the 
following definition, which I insert entire from that stand- 
ard author, Schleusner : — 
5 



50 SELECTIONS FROM 

4 Gehenna, a word of Hebrew origin, which properly 
signifies the valley of Hinnom, is composed of the Hebrew 
appellative Gee, valley, and the proper name Hinnom, 
who was the owner of this valley. The valley of the sons 
of Hinnom, was a most delightful vale, planted with trees, 
and watered by fountains, and was close to Jerusalem on 
the southeast, by the torrent Kedron. Here the Jews 
placed that brazen image of Moloch, which had the face 
of a calf, and extended its hands like those of a man ; 
and to which the Jewish idolaters, as R. Kimchi informs 
us from the ancient Rabbins, used to sacrifice not only 
doves, turtles, lambs, rams, calves, and bulls, but also 
their own children. (Consult 1 Kings xi. 7, and 2 Kings 
xvi. 3, 4.) In Jeremiah vii. 31, this valley is called 
Tophet, from the Hebrew Toph, a drum ; because that 
the priests in those horrible rites, beat drums, lest the 
waitings and cries of the infants who were burned, 
should be heard by those standing around. But when 
these horrible rites were done away by Josiah, and the 
Jews recalled to the purer worship of God, (see 2 Kings 
xxiii. 10,) it is said that they afterwards held this place 
in such detestation, as to throw into it not only all the 
filth, but also the carcasses of animals, and of those crim- 
inals who had been capitally punished. (Consult Sam. 
Petiti. Varr. Lect. i. 4, and Morinus de Ling. Primceva 
p. 366.) As a continual fire was necessary to consume 
the substances, lest the air should be infected by putre- 
faction, and as there were always worms feeding on the 
remaining fragments, (see Brawn, Selecta, sec. iv. 120,) 
it hence came to pass, that not only every severe punish- 
ment, and particularly every ignominious kind of death, 
was called by the name of Gehenna, but likewise that 
miserable state in which the wicked after death shall suf- 
fer condign and unceasing torments, in company with 
demons ; so that hell itself was called by this name, not 
only by the Jews, (see Bartolocciwn in Biblioth. Rabbin. 
M. T. ii. p. 128,) but also by Christ and his apostles. 
See the following texts ; Matt. v. 22, shall be in danger of 
a gehenna of fire, i. e. shall be worthy of an ignominious 
death ; ver. 29, 30, than that thy whole body should be 
cast into gehenna, i. e. than that thou shouldst perish in 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 51 

hell ; chap. x. 28, destroy both soul and body in gehemia, 
i. e. destroy thy soul with the body ; chap, xviii. 9. Chap, 
xxiii. 15, tivo fold more the child of gehenna, i. e. worthy 
of the severest punishment ; ver. 33, escape the damnation 
of gehenna, i. e. escape infernal torment. In Mark ix. 
43 — 48, Gehenna is called unquenchable fire, fire that is 
not quenched. Luke xii. 5. James iii. 6, and is set on 
fire of gehenna, i. e. and afterwards is consumed, itself, 
by infernal fire. It is nowhere else found in the New 
Testament. Suidas defines Gehenna to mean punishment ; 
Albertus, in his Glossary of the New Testament, p. 5, de- 
fines it, to meanthepit. See Wetstein, NeAV Testament, 
vol. i. p. 299, and Glassii Philologia Sacra, p. 806, ed. 
Dathii.' Schleusnerii Lexicon, in voce Gehenna. 

'Thus far Schleusner. He mentions three things, 
which the careful reader will remember: (1,) that Ge- 
henna was originally the name of the valley of Hinnom ; 
(2,) that it came at length to denote any severe punish- 
ment, especially any ignominious death; and (3,) that 
it was at last used to signify a state of torment in the 
future world. Now at what time it came to be used in 
the last mentioned sense, is a question of great import- 
ance, and I shall first state the jndgment of critics on 
this point, and then offer a few suggestions. I think it 
is now agreed by the learned, that it was not so used, till 
after the close of the Old Testament ; but I think it is 
likewise generally agreed by them, that it had become so 
used in the time of our Saviour. Of this latter fact, the 
only proof on which they rely, (besides the controverted 
texts in the New Testament,) is, I think, the language of 
certain passages in the Apocrypha, and in the ancient 
Targums, which were written by the Jews, about the 
time, it is commonly supposed, of our Saviour's birth. 
Here I would remark, that if the word Gehenna were 
ordinarily used for a place of future torment, by those 
Jewish authors of the Apocrypha, and of the Targums, 
who lived before, and at, the christian era, the circum- 
stance would render it very probable that the word was 
commonly so understood in Christ's time. But it is im- 
portant to observe, with regard to the passages alluded 
to in the Apocrypha, that Sir. Balfour, (Inquiry pp. 273, 



52 SELECTIONS FROM 

274, ) states, that they do not even contain the word Ge- 
henna ; so that they must be thrown entirely out of the 
question, leaving nothing but the Targums to sustain the 
critics in their decision. The Targums, I believe, have 
not been sufficiently examined* by any author who doubt- 
ed the common opinion. Before we ought to be satisfied 
with regard to their bearing on this subject, it appears, 
to me that the following points should be clearly ascer- 
tained ; (1,) Whether the oldest of them, those of Jona- 
than Ben Uzziel and Onkelos, do in fact use the word 
Gehenna to denote a place of future torment ; for all the 
others are of too late a date to be used as evidence. 
(2,) Whether it is probable that even those Targums are 
as old as our Saviour's time ; for I understand that this 
is a disputed question among critics, and that the cele- 
brated Bauer and Jahn bring them down to the second 
or third century.' Trumpet, ii. S9. 

In relation to the date of the Targums, I only add the 
following remarks from Home : — 

The Targum of Onkelos : ' The generally received 
opinion is that Onkelos was a proselyte to Judaism, and 
a disciple of the celebrated Rabbi Hillel, who flourished 
about fifty years before the christian era ; and conse- 
quently that Onkelos was contemporary with our Saviour ; 
Bauer and Jahn, however, place him in the second cen- 
tury.' Intro, ii. 159. 

Targum of the Psuedo Jonathan: ' Learned men 
are unanimously of opinion that this Targum could not 
have been written before the seventh, or even the eighth 
century.' Ibid, p. 159. 

Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel: Some suppose this 
Jonathan to have lived in the days of Christ, and Wol- 
fius thinks he lived a short time before that period. 
' From the silence of Origen and Jerome concerning 
this Targum, of which they could not but have availed 

* |f This examination has since been made by Rev. H. Ballou 2d, (the 
autnor of the article here quoted,) and its results published in the Uni- 
versalist Expositor, Vol. ii. pp. 351 — 368, to which the reader is referred. 
He has ascertained, by a careful investigation, that Gehenna is not used, 
in any Jewish writings now extant, to indicate torment in the future life, 
be r ore the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel. Concerning the probable 
date of this Targum some remarks will be found in the text. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 53 

themselves if it had really existed in their time, and also 
from its being cited in the Talmud, both Bauer and 
Jahn date it much later than is generally admitted : the 
former indeed is of opinion that its true date cannot be 
ascertained ; and the latter, from the inequalities of 
style and method observable in it, considers it as a com- 
pilation from the interpretations of several learned men, 
made about the close of the third or fourth century.' 
Ibid. p. 160. 

Hence it is seen that before the Targums will sup- 
port the critics in their opinion that Gehenna had, in 
the days of Christ, acquired this new sense, expressing 
torments in the future life, it must first be proved, be- 
yond reasonable doubt, that the Targums were then in 
existence ; this is strongly doubted by some of the best 
critics. (Eichhorn dates Targ. Jonathan in the fourth 
century, and Bertholdt in the second or third ; see also 
the preceding remarks.) At the least, it must be prov- 
ed that they were written within a short time after 
Christ ; because if their true date is in the second, or 
third, or fourth, century, they can yield no conclusive 
testimony ; words change in their signification astonish- 
ingly in one or two hundred years. 

It may not be improper to introduce, in this place, 
the following passage from Macknight : — 

1 Into the deep. The word abyssos in this passage sig- 
nifies the place where wicked spirits are punished ; as 
it does likewise Rev. xx. 3, where it is translated the bot- 
tomless pit ; properly it denotes a place without bottom, 
or so deep that it cannot be fathomed. The Greeks de- 
scribed their Tartarus in this manner, and the Jews, 
when they wrote Greek, did not scruple to adopt their 
expressions, because they were universally understood. 
Besides, the Hebrew language did not furnish proper words 
for these ideas, which was the reason that the first 
Christians also, when they had occasion to speak of the 
state of evil spirits, made use of terms purely Greek, 
such as Hades, Tartarosas, 4*c.' Har. Evan. Sec. 32. 

But if Gehenna, (which is of Hebrew origin, and was 
5* 



54 SELECTIONS FROM 

transplanted into the Greek, merely changing the ter- 
mination,) had so early acquired the sense which some 
suppose, and was used to describe the torments of a fu- 
ture life, how can it be said that the Hebrew language 
contained no terms expressive of this idea ? This dec- 
laration of Dr. Macknight appears altogether inconsis- 
tent with the supposition that Gehenna was used to de- 
note a state of torment in the invisible world, at so 
early a period. 

It will be observed that our author says, in conse- 
quence of this lack of Hebrew words, proper for the 
purpose, c the first christians also, when they had oc- 
casion to speak of the state of evil spirits, made use of 
terms purely Greek, such as Hades, Tartarosas, &c.' 
But was Hades used to denote a place or state of tor- 
ment, in the future life ? On this point, Dr. Camp- 
bell, a standard critic writes thus : — 

' As to the word Hades, which occurs in eleven places 
of the New Testament, and is rendered hell in all, ex- 
cept one, where it is translated grave, it is quite com- 
mon in classical authors, and frequently used by the 
Seventy, in the translation of the Old Testament. In 
my judgment, it ought never in scripture to be rendered 
hell, at least in the sense wherein that word is now uni- 
versally understood by christians.' Prel. Diss. vi. part 
ii. § 2. 

Hence, if Dr. Campbell's judgment may be relied 
on, the early christian writers, were not describing the 
state of evil spirits in another world, or in the place 
which many suppose to be indicated by the w r ord hell, 
when they employed this Greek term. 

I repeat, that in connection with the notion that Ge- 
henna had, before the days of Christ, acquired a new 
signification, the remark of Dr. Macknight is worthy of 
serious consideration ; — i. e. that in the days of the jirst 
christians, the Hebrew language did not furnish pro- 
per words, to describe a place for the torment of evil 
spirits, in the invisible world : I think I do not mistake 
the Doctor's meaning. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 55 

For a sufficiently full examination of this class of 
texts, in which Gehenna occurs, see Balfour's Inquiry, 
pp. 91 — 420, (1st Edit.) Whittemore's Notes on the 
Parables, (2d Edit. Parable of the ' Offending Hand 
and Foot.') Universalist Expositor, vol. ii. pp. 351 — 
368. 



SECTION XI. 



' Enter ye in at the strait gate 3 for wide is the gate, and broad is the 
way 7 that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat : 
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, 
and few there be that find it. ; Matt. vii. 13 ; 14. 

The parallel place is Luke xiii. 24. 

Pearce. ' Rather through the strait gate ; i. e. the 
narrow gate, meaning that which lets men into the gos- 
pel, or kingdom of God. By a gate the Jews under- 
stand that which leads or lets men into the sense and 
knowledge of any doctrine. Hence Maimonides' trea- 
tise concerning the law of Moses, is called by a word 
signifying the gate of Moses. In a sense not much un- 
like to this, Paul says, 1 Cor. xvi. 9, 4 a great door and 
effectual is opened unto me? i. e. for preaching the gospel 
of Christ ; in Acts xiv. 27, it is said that God hath open- 
ed the door of faith unto the Gentiles, and in Col. iv. 3, 
mention is made of a door of utterance, i. e. for preach- 
ing.' Com. in loc. 

The Bishop does not say whether he understands 
the destruction, here mentioned, to mean a temporal 
calamity, or endless misery. But as he refers so many 
similar passages to the different fate of believers and un- 
believers, at the destruction of Jerusalem, and especial- 
ly as he explains entering into life to mean entering 
into the gospel, we may justly conclude that he did not 
believe the doctrine of endless misery is here taught, or 



56 SELECTIONS FROM 

even implied. For further remarks on this subject, see 
the notes on Matt. vii. 21 — 23. 



SECTION XII. 

' Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down ; and cast into 
the fire. 7 — Matt, vii.19. 

1. Pearce. ' This verse seems not to belong to this 
place ; for it rather interrupts the view of Jesus' argu- 
ment, than helps it. It is found word for word in ch. iii. 
10, and seems to have been from thence quoted and in- 
serted in the margin of some ancient Greek copies, and 
then by the mistake of transcribers, brought into the text, 
as hath happened (I think) in other places of the New 
Testament.' Com. in loc. 

The place to which Bp. Pearce refers, he explains to 
mean the temporal calamities about to come on the Jew- 
ish nation, and the distinction which should then be made 
between believers and unbelievers, in the preservation 
of the lives of the former, and the destruction of the lives 
of the latter. 

2. Kenrick. ' This verse does not seem to belong to 
this place, for it evidently interrupts our Saviour's reason- 
ing here, by introducing an idea which is foreign to the 
purpose of the rest of the discourse. It is found, word 
for word, in ch. iii. 10, and being inserted in the margin 
here, was probably introduced into the text, by the mis- 
take of some transcriber, at a very early period; for it is 
found in all the present manuscripts and versions. Slight 
errors of a similar nature have been observed in other 
parts of the New Testament.' Expos, in loc. 

3. Gilpin also thinks this verse is interpolated, c be- 
cause it here interrupts the sense.' Note in loc. He 
supposes the tree which brought not forth good fruit, 
(Mat. iii. 10,) to be the Jewish law ; and that its being 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 57 

cut down, indicated its approaching abrogation. Expos, 
in chap. hi. 10. And in this he differs from other Com- 
mentators. As this verse is precisely similar to chap, 
iii. 10, it of course requires the same interpretation. By 
referring to the notes on that verse, the reader can see 
what view has been taken of it, by various writers. 



SECTION XIII. 



1 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven 3 but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in 
heaven. Many will say to me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we not pro- 
phesied in thy name 1 and in thy name have cast out devils 1 and in thy 
name done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, 
I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.' — Matt. vii. 

The parallel place is Luke xiii. 23 — 30. 

1. Cappe. This is a figurative description of the van- 
ity of those hopes, which in the day of those calamities 
that were impending on Judea, should be built upon any 
other ground than that of a sincere reception and faithful 
improvement of the gospel. To enter into the kingdom 
of heaven in this connexion, is to escape the ruin in 
which hypocrites and unbelievers should be overwhelmed, 
and to obtain admission into that state of security and 
comfort, which was to be prepared for the reception of 
those who cordially received the truth, and steadfastly 
professed and practised it.' Grit. Rem. i. 181. 

2. Jones. ' As the principal object of those men in 
joining the christian church was to avail themselves of 
the simplicity and liberality of the first converts, our 
Lord with much propriety calls them thieves and robbers, 
John x. 8, and this figure will lead us to comprehend a 
passage, which the wit of man has been defied by a great 
critic to explain, without a change in the text. c Then 
said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved ? 
And he said, strive to enter in at the straight gate ; for 



58 SELECTIONS FROM 

many I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not 
be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, 
and hath shut the door, (i. e. hath risen up to shut the 
door, the phrase being a Hebraism,) and ye begin to stand 
without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, 
open unto us, and he shall answer and say unto you, I 
know you not whence ye are,' Luke xiii. 23 — 28. Our 
divine master, it seems, from the habit of reflecting on 
the circumstances of his gospel yet in futurity, had asso- 
ciated those false teachers, who would delude the many 
from the true faith with the character of thieves going 
about in the night to rob people's houses. Hence he 
represents himself as rejecting them from his own pecu- 
liar favor, or from the church which his virtuous follow- 
ers would form after his resurrection, under allusion to a 
householder rising from his seat to bolt his door against 
robbers in the night.' Illustrations 8?c. Sect. xiv. 

3. Hammond. In his Paraphrase, Hammond seems 
to refer the parallel place in Luke, to a distinction to be 
made between the righteous and the wicked in the fu- 
ture life. But on ver. 23, he has a long note, giving his 
views of the word saved, as here used, in which he evi- 
dently considers it to mean a deliverance from temporal 
calamity. He states first, that the Hebrew word, 
answering to the Greek sozesthai, and ruesthai, to be 
saved, or delivered, ordinarily signifies to evade, or es- 
cape. In proof of this signification of the word, he re- 
fers to Gen. xix. 19, compared with Mat. xxiv. 16 ; also 
to Gen. xix. 22, 1 Sam. xix. 12, Joel Hi. 32, compared 
with Rom. x. 13, Isaiah xlv. 20, xlix. 6, Ecclus. xxxvi. 
9, John xi. 12, (if he sleep sothesetai, he shall do well, 
or escape, or be saved ;) Mat. xxiv. 22, Acts xxvii. 20, 
21, and xxviii. 1. He next observes that in the proph- 
ets, there is frequent mention of & remnant that should be 
rescued out of the common calamity of the Jews, that 
was then approaching; he refers to Isaiah xxxvii. 31, 
32, Neh. i. 2, 3 ; this remnant he supposes to be equiv- 
alent to the saved, in the cases mentioned. 

The remainder of his remarks I shall quote : — 



EMINENT COMMETATORS. 59 

i From this acceptation of the word sozomcnoi, the saved, 
for that remnant which should escape of the Jews out of 
the common destruction and slaughter that fell upon that 
people, called cklektoi, (elect) sometimes, (and therefore 
said Theophylact, cklektoi and sozomcnoi are all one,) some- 
times, Luke xxi. 30, they that have the honor or favor to 
escape ; another acceptation there is of it for those which 
should believe in Christ, receive and embrace him at his 
coming, and, having done so, adhere and cleave fast to 
him. So when Isa. x. 22, it is prophesied, that the rem- 
nant of Israel shall return, the apostle, Rom. ix. 27, ap- 
plies that place, (literally spoken of the return from the 
Babylonish captivity,) by way of accommodation to their 
receiving the faith of Christ ; a remnant shall escape out 
of that epidemical unbelief, and receive Christ. Thus 
Procopius understood that sothesetai peculiarly of believ- 
ing in Christ, in Is. p. 576, the first fruits of that remnant 
that escaped was the disciples of our Saviour. So Luke 
xix. 9, the soteria, (salvation) that was come to Zac- 
cheus at that time, was repentance, conversion, the re- 
covering the sinner, or the publican, to repentance, ver. 10. 
So 1 Cor. vii. 16, the believing wife's saving her husband, is 
converting him to the faith; and Rom. xi. 14, provoking 
and saving the Jeivs, is by emulation bringing them to re- 
pent and receive the faith. And so the sozomenoi, (saved) 
here shall be those, especially the Jews, that believed in 
Christ and adhered to him, according to the import of 
Acts xi. 17, that the remnant of men (that is, of the Jews, 
opposed to the Gentiles after mentioned,) might seek the 
Lord. To this purpose it is that Ignatius, in his Epistle 
to Poly carp, bids him exhort all that they escape, (sozontai) 
that is, repent and accept the faith, and that Procopius 
makes two ranks of these escapers, (sozomenon,) the Jews 
that expected the Messias, and the church of the Gentiles ; 
the latter of which having called the multitude of them 
that escape of the Gentiles, he straight interprets by the 
running together of the nations called Christians. 

And then the clear meaning of this uncertain man's 
question will be this, — Whether this doctrine or faith of 
Christ, so contrary to the humor and passions of the 
world, should be able to propagate itself, and prove so 
successful as to be received by many, or whether it should 



60 SELECTIONS FROM 

be contained and enclosed within a narrow pale that so 
he might either resist Christ with the many, or have the 
honor of being one of the few singular persons that re- 
ceived him. And accordingly Christ's answer is to put 
him on that narrow path that leadeth to life, that the few 
were likely to find, the way of infidelity being so broad 
and beaten, though it led to absolute destruction. By 
this explication of this place will appear also what is 
meant by the same word, Acts ii. 47, where it is said that 
the Lord added* &c. that is, by the grace and power of 
God there came daily many new converts, penitent, re- 
formed Christians, into the church. The rise of that in- 
terpretation in that place will be best taken from the ad- 
monition of St. Peter, in ver 40, of that chapter, in these 
words, be ye saved from this crooked generation ; where 
the import of the sozesthai, (to be saved,) is clearly, getting 
out, escaping, flying from that great pertinacy and obdu- 
ration of that age against all the miracles of Christ and 
his apostles, crucifying him, and resisting all the power- 
ful methods of his workings ; that is, not being saved 
eternally, (for that would not be matter of exhortation, un- 
less as that is a certain consequent of repentance and 
belief in Christ,) but retracting the vicious course that 
they and others went on in, the mctanoesate, repent, ver. 
8. For when St. Peter had said, repent, it is added that 
in many other words he admonished them saying, be 
saved, or escape, &c. which is an affirmation that to re- 
pent is the same thing, which, in other and more words, 
is to be saved, or escape, from that perverse generation; as 
in Simplicius, having the beginning of being saved, is set 
to expound a former phrase, they that begin to be instruct- 
ed, and accordingly in Zeleucus, in his proem to his laws, 
noun echontes, and sothesomenoi, are put together as phrases 
of the same import, wise men, and such as meant to be safe ; 
and therefore when it follows that they that willingly re- 
ceived the word, that is, that admonition of his, were bap- 
tized, and that there were three thousand that day added 
to the church, that certainly is an explication of this 

* Clarke says— 'Our translation — such as should be saved, is improper 
and insupportable. The original means simply and solely those who were 
then saved/ &c. Com. in Acts ii. 47. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 61 

phrase, he added the saved, or reformed Christians. So 
that that which was done in such a measure in one day, 
ver. 41, is said further to be done every day, ver. 47, in 
some measure, and they that willingly entertain the word 
there, is but a paraphrase of sozomenois, the saved, here ; 
which being in the present, not the future tense, must 
needs belong to the present condition of men, that is, 
such penitent forsakers of the wicked perverse age, sav- 
ed out of the crooked generation, and in a parallel phrase, 
they that fled from the pollutions of the tvorld, 2 Pet. ii. 20, 
by which christians are there expressed. 

In this sense we have the word used observably by 
Procopius, on Isaiah xxvi. When the Gentiles came in to 
Christ, (not when they were saved or come to heaven, for 
the Jews could not see that, but) when they forsook their 
idolatry, and embraced the christian faith, and so escaped 
out of that perverse generation, the Jews were inflamed with 
envy, and would rather have endured any punishment than 
to see the Gentiles thus reform, and reproach to them their 
infidelity and impenitence. Thus also will the word be 
explained 1 Cor. i. 18, and 2 Cor. ii. 15, where the saved 
are believers, they that embrace the gospel, and are op- 
posed to them that perish, as to the contrary, those that 
believed not, both there, and 2 Cor. iv. 3, where he saith, 
his gospel is hid to them, that is, to those which heard, but 
believed it not, unbelievers, ver. 4, unless perhaps, appollu- 
menoi, (^the lost,) may be thought a higher degree of the 
same thing ; to wit, those that for their unbelief are de- 
serted by God, and so blinded that they cannot see, and 
then proportionally to that, sozomenoi, (the saved) may be 
those penitent believers, endued with a higher degree of 
grace from heaven. But that the lost signifies no more 
than the unbelieving Jews, that continued in their un- 
belief, (and so by proportion, the saved the contrary) may 
farther appear by an ancient place in Clemens, where 
praying for those that perish (not for them that are al- 
ready destroyed) denotes the prayers in the Easter week, 
which were offered to God by the Christian church for 
the Jews, as appears by the beginning of chap. xiv. We 
ought to mourn for them, because they have not believed. 

All that I shall add to this is but the opinion of Joh. 
6 



62 SELECTIONS FROM 

Curterius, the translator of Procopius on Isaiah, who 
meeting oft in that author with the word sozomenoi, those 
that are saved, hath sometimes been forced to render it 
quibus salutis cura est, they that have care of salvation ; 
the matter not bearing any interpretation which had 
nearer reference to salvation, than that expression of his 
would bear. 

Out of all that hath been said on this word, the notion 
of sozomenoi, (the saved) will sufficiently be cleared in all 
the places of the New Testament ; and for the notion of 
the verb, sozesthai, (to be saved) w T e have said enough al- 
ready to give direction for understanding it, wherever it 
is to be met with ; not always for eternal salvation, but 
oft for other kinds of escaping, and deliverances out of 
diseases, every where almost in the gospels ; out of other 
dangers, 1 Cor. iii. 15, as one that escapes out ofthejire, 
losing much in his passage, but himself escaping ; 1 Pet. 
iii. 20, either through, or from the water ; and scarcely es- 
cape, 1 Pet. iv. 18, and, rescue in fear, or in time of danger, 
snatching them out of the fir x e, Jude 23 ; all which we shall 
refer to their several places.' AnnoL in Luke xiii. 23. 



SECTION XIV. 



' Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, 
I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And 
the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat 
upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And 
every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall 
be likened unto a foolish man> which built his house upon the sand : And 
the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat 
upon that house ; and it fell : and great was the fall of it.'— Matt. vii. 
24—27. 

The parallel place is Luke vi. 47 — 49. This pas- 
sage has been applied by many to the concerns of 
another life. They seem to have thought that wher- 
ever a metaphor was used, it must necessarily be- 
long to the future world. But this is a mistaken opinion. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 63 

-The words of Jesus admit an easy application, without 
going into another world. The disciples were about to 
be exposed to sharp persecutions. He informed them 
that nothing could so effectually sustain them under the 
afflictions they should suffer, as a firm faith in his gospel, 
and a corresponding practice. Such is the fact, also, 
in relation to all men, so far as their situation is similar. 
The following named writers seem to have had this view 
of the subject : — 

1. Jones. After noticing a persecution which existed 
in the apostolic age, and the manner of its discontinu- 
ance by an edict of the Emperor, Jones remarks : — 

6 The edict, which secured peace to the innocent, ope- 
rated in full force against the guilty ; the impostors, 
notorious and abandoned, were the persons who chiefly 
felt its severity. Suffering is the only test of probity and 
sincerity, and suffering in the cause of righteousness the 
impostors had neither principle nor power to support. 
This our Lord well knew, and foreseeing the storms 
which were soon to rise, with the effect they would pro- 
duce on false teachers, he adds with reference to them, 
* And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them not, shall be likened to a foolish man which 
built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, 
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon 
that house and it fell.' Illustrations, fyc. Sect. xiv. 

2. Tomson's Beza. The following is given as com- 
prehending the doctrine taught in this passage :-' Afflic- 
tion doth at the length discern true godliness from false 
and feigned.' Note in Luke vi. 47 — 49. 

3. Diodati. c The similitude of the two houses shows 
the difference there is between true godliness and hy- 
pocrisy: for they are both alike in outward appearance ; 
but when trial comes, true godliness continues firm 
against all oppositions, whereas hypocrisy vanisheth into 
nothing.' AnnoL in Luke vi. 48, 49. 

4. Rosenmuller, Ver. 25. * Whoever shall govern 
his actions by the precepts of my doctrine, consults his 
own highest advantage. He shall stand firm amid the 
storms of calamity, nor shall he ever be truly miserable ; 



64 SELECTIONS FROM 

but, in this life and the next, he shall be tranquil and 
happy. That inundations and storms are figures to ex- 
press great calamities, is well known.' 

Ver. 26, 27. ' The sense of these words is easily un- 
derstood, by comparing them with ver. 25. See similar 
forms of speech quoted by Wetstein from the Rabbinical 
writings. Christ here intends to teach this : external 
works, and even miracles, without inward piety, and a 
virtuous disposition, are indeed like a splendid edifice ; 
but if a man performing these works, be very desirous of 
popularity, gain and pleasure, all his apparent virtue van- 
ishes, whenever a violent storm of temptation assails him. 
But, he, whose mind is steadfast in the doctrine of the gos- 
pel, and in the love of virtue, expecting from God alone 
the recompense of his good deeds, though he encounter 
all the injuries of the wicked, the cruel persecutions of 
unbelievers, and even death itself, shall stand unshaken 
and unharmed, until that day, when his perseverance, 
victorious over evil, shall receive its crown.' Scholia in 
loc. 

5. Kenrick. ' The mind that is thus dispos- 
ed, is prepared for obeying the truth ; he who has done 
this, builds upon a rock, he will maintain his speculative 
faith unshaken by the allurements of pleasure, by the 
fear of bodily pain, of poverty, banishment, ignominy 
and death, as well as by the new doctrines of a false 
teacher. On the contrary, those who approve of the 
christian doctrine with the understanding, but have not 
taken care to lay a good foundation in the affections, by 
the means above mentioned, being tempted by the snares 
of sin, by the fear of impending evil, or the charm of 
novelty, are easily induced to wish that whatever opposes 
the gratification of their lust may not be true ; and, seek- 
ing any how to escape from it, they first begin to doubt, 
then waver in their profession, and last of all fall entire- 
ly away from it.' Expos, in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 65 



SECTION XV. 



1 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west 7 and 
shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of 
heaven : But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter 
darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ; — Matt. viii. 
11, 12. 

This passage is very similar to Matt. vii. 21 — 23, and 
especially Luke xiii, 23 — 30. To the notes on those 
passages, the reader is referred for some valuable re- 
marks. In addition, I insert the following : — 

1. Lardner. This judicious writer undoubtedly un- 
derstood this passage to be descriptive of a very import- 
ant event, which occurred in this world, and not in the 
next ; to wit, the rejection of the Jews, and the calling 
of the Gentiles. He writes thus : 

1 St. Matthew's knowledge of the calling of the Gen- 
tiles, and the rejection of the Jews, may be concluded 
from many things recorded by him. In the history of 
our Lord's healing the centurion's servant at Capernaum, 
he inserts our Lord's commendation of his faith, and that 
declaration, Many shall come from the east, fyc. Matt. viii. 
10 — 12.' Hist. Apos. fy Evang. Chap. v. 

2. Whitby. 'To lie down with Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, cloth not signify 
to enjoy everlasting happiness in heaven with them, but 
only to become the sons of Abraham through faith, Gal. iii. 
7, and so to be blessed with faithful Abraham, ver. 9, to 
have the blessing of Abraham coming on them, that they 
may receive the promise of the spirit, ver. 14, through 
faith in Christ to be the seed of Abraham and heirs, ac- 
cording to the promise, ver. 29, viz. the promise made to 
Abraham, Gen. xii. 3, renewed to Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 4, 
and confirmed to Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 14, and to be, ac- 
cording to Isaac, the children of promise, Gal. iv. 28. 
This, says Christ, shall be the blessing of the believing 
Gentiles ; they shall be sons of Abraham, and heirs of 
the promises made to the patriarchs, and mentioned by 
all the holy prophets of the Old Testament ; whereas, 

6* 



66 SELECTIONS FROM 

the unbelieving Jews, wanting the faith of Abraham, shall 
be deprived of the blessings promised to his seed ; for 
they who seek to enter, and shall not be able, because 
the Master has shut to his door, Luke xiii. 24, 25, are 
those Jews who sought for righteousness by the works of 
the law and not by faith, and therefore found it not, 
Rom. ix. 31, 32, vi. 7, who entered not into the rest pre- 
pared for them, by reason of their unbelief, Heb. iii. 18, 
19, iv. 2, 5, 8, from whom the kingdom of God w T as 
taken away, Matt. xxi. 43 ; they are they who shall say 
to Christ, ' we have eaten and drunk before thee, and thou 
hast taught in our streets,' Luke xiii. 26, which could be 
said only by the Jews." Com. in he. 

3. Tomson's Beza. The following is given as the 
substance of the passage, commencing at ver. 5 : — 

' Christ, by setting before them the example of the 
uncircumcised centurion, and yet of an excellent faith, 
provoketh the Jews to emulation, and together forewarn- 
eth them of their casting off, and the calling of the Gen- 
tiles.' Note in loc. 



SECTION XVI. 



• Verily, I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom 
and Gomorrah ; in the day of judgment, than for that city. ; — Matt. x. 15. 

1. Hammond. ' I assure you, the punishment or des- 
truction that will light upon that city will be such, that 
the destruction of Sodom shall appear to have been more 
tolerable than that. See note on Matt. iii. 2.' Par. in 
loc. 

In the note to which he refers, he says in express 
terms, that Jesus did not speak of the day of judgment 
to come, but of that day when Sodom was overthrown 
by the shower of fire and brimstone, which the Lord 
rained on the city, out of heaven. See his note. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 67 

2. Pearce. 'That is, in the day of the destruction of 
the Jewish state, called the coming of the Son of Man, 
ver. 23. The sense of this verse seems to be this : That, 
which formerly befel Sodom and Gomorrah, was more 
tolerable, than what shall befal this city. That the day 
of judgment here mentioned is to be thus understood, ap- 
pears from what is said concerning Capernaum in ch. 
xi. 23, compared with ver. 22 — 24, of the same chapter.' 
Com. in loc. 

3. Wakefield. ' In a day of vengeance, punishment, 
or trial. This is undoubtedly the genuine sense of the 
phrase, which has not the least reference to the day of 
general judgment. All that our Saviour intends to say is, 
that, when the temporal calamities of that place come 
upon it, they will be more severe than even those of 
Sodom and Gomorrah. See this phrase employed in pre- 
cisely the same meaning by the LXX, in Prov. vi. 34, 
where, instead of kriseos, Aquila and Theodotion have 
ekdikeseos ; Is. xxxiv. 8, and my Commentary on this 
place. Our Saviour, I apprehend, had Jerusalem princi- 
pally in view in this declaration.' Note in loc. 

4. Clarke. 'In the day of judgment, or punishment : 
Perhaps not meaning the day of general judgment, nor 
the day of the destruction of the Jewish state by the Ro- 
mans ; but a day in which God should send punishment 
on that particular city, or on that person, for their crimes ; 
so the day of judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, was the 
time in which the Lord destroyed them by fire and brim- 
stone, from the Lord out of heaven.' Com. in loc. 

A passage, very similar to this, occurs in Matt. xi. 
22 — 24, to the notes on which the reader is referred for 
additional observations. Some people have so long as- 
sociated the phrase, day of judgment, with the idea of 
a period in the future life, when the whole human fam- 
ily shall be congregated before the tribunal of God, to 
receive a sentence, which shall be followed by endless 
happiness on the one hand, or endless misery on the 
other, — that they seem to imagine any other interpre- 
tation of this phrase must necessarily be wrong. As 
the words in question operate like a charm on the minds 



68 SELECTIONS FROM 

of so many, rendering them in a degree insensible to the 
force of argument. I have quoted authorities the more 
freely ; so that if possible they may be restored to their 
right mind by the testimony of those writers in whom 
they confide. 

For an illustration of the phrase, c day of judgment,' 
and others of a kindred character, see c Balfour's Essays,' 
pp. 221—305, 



SECTION XVII. 

' And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake : but he that en- 
dureth to the end shall be saved.' — Matt. x. 22. 

It will not be pretended that this passage directly 
teaches punishment after death, or even in the present 
life. But then it is said the words imply that some shall 
not be saved. Suppose they do ; — the question th^n 
arises, saved from whatl If from endless misery, then 
endless misery may be here taught by implication ; but 
if from temporal calamities, a failure to obtain that sal- 
vation only implies the endurance of those temporal 
evils, and the doctrine of endless misery derives no sup- 
port from the passage. In this view of the case, I offer 
the following quotations, in which it is admitted by or- 
thodox Commentators, that Jesus had reference, not to 
salvation or destruction in the future life, but to a period 
then near at hand, when some should be cut off from 
the land of the living, by a signal destruction, and others 
as signally saved alive. 

1. Hammond. ' And the Jews, wheresoever you come, 
shall persecute you for preaching of Christ ; but there is 
a fatal day approaching for these Jews, and they that in 
despite of all these persecutions, ver. 18 — 22, shall stick 
fast to your christian profession, they shall, beside their 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 69 

crown in another world, have a remarkable deliverance 
here out of that destruction, which universally lighteth 
upon all others.' Par in loc. 

To explain his views further. Dr. Hammond adds the 
following note ; — 

4 To endure to the end doth here clearly signify a perse- 
vering constant adherence to Christ, in despite of all the 
persecutions that shall befal them for the name of Christ, 
and for an encouragement to that, is here added the 
promise, that this shall be the most probable course, in 
the event, to escape, not only eternal wrath, but even 
destruction here. This will appear by the context which 
runs thus ; the apostles are appointed to go preach first 
to the Jews peculiarly, and not to any others, till they 
have done with them, ver. 5 ; they are foretold what 
usage they shall meet with among them, scourging and 
hilling, ver. 17 ; and as a means to escape the sharpness 
of this ill usage among them, is their flying from one city 
to another, ver. 23, which will save or deliver them for 
the time, and before they shall have gone over cdl the cities 
of Israel, that fatal destruction, or coming of the son of 
man, ver. 23, shall be ; and so shall supersede their fur- 
ther cruelty upon them, and withal, involve all those, 
who, to save themselves, shall deny and forsake Christ. 
See ver. 39, and Luke ix. 24. That this is the meaning 
of sothesetai, (shall be saved) here, as it is in many other 
places, will appear, both by Matt. xxiv. 13, where the 
same words are again used in that very business, and by 
Mark xiii. 13, which is parallel to that place ; and there 
these words, hut he that endureth to the end, shall escape, 
are attended immediately with the mention of the abomi- 
nation of desolation, instead of which St. Luke sets the 
encompassing of Jerusalem with armies, (see note on Mat, 
xxiv. 3,) and the advice to them, which are in Judea, to 
fly to the mountains, which is a character by which we 
may discern to what the escaping doth belong; and that 
sothesetai, (to be saved) is not always to be interpreted 
of eternal salvation, but>of temporal escaping, (anymore 
than soteria, salvation, doth, Acts vii. 25, where it is 
clearly the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt by 



70 SELECTIONS FROM 

Moses,) will hereafter appear on occasion of the 

phrase oi sozomenoi, Acts ii. 42, Luke xiii. 23, 1 Pet. i. 5, 
and 2 Pet. i. 3. And this verse, being thus understood, 
will be all one with that famous prediction of the bird in 
the capitol, est at pant a Jcalos, (see Suetonius in Domit. c. 
23.) spoken surely for the comfort of Christians then, 
in respect of their persecutions, but wrested to Trajan 
and Adrian by the historian.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Pearce. The Bishop, instead of explaining this 
verse, refers to his note on chap. xxiv. 13. which I have 
quoted in its proper place. In that note he explains the 
salvation here mentioned, to be the preservation of life, 
at the destruction of Jerusalem, which occured at ' the 
end of that age.' Com. in loc. 

3. Rexrick. ' These last words are usually referred 
to filial salvation, which is supposed to be here promised 
to those who continue in the profession of the christian 
faith to the end of life, through all the persecutions to 
which they may be exposed. But, as the same words 
are applied in another part of the evangelist Matthew, 
to the end of the Jewish state by the destruction of Je- 
rusalem, (See Matt. xxiv. 13.) they may easily admit of 
the same construction here ; and Christ will then refer 
to a well known fact, which took place when Jerusalem 
was destroyed. The christians, being warned of their 
danger by immediate revelation from heaven, or the pre- 
ceding prophecies of Christ relating to that event, de- 
parted from the city, and were hereby preserved. It is 
as if he had said : he that continueth constant to the 
christian faith, to the end of the Jewish state, shall es- 
cape all further persecution from that people ; their 
power being then at an end, and they themselves dis- 
persed through all nations.' Expos, in lor. 

4. Clarke. ■ He who holds fast faith, and a good 
conscience to the end, till the punishment threatened 
against this wicked people be poured out, he shall be sav- 
ed, preserved from the destruction that shall fall upon 
the workers of iniquity. This verse is commonly under- 
stood to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem.' Dr. 
Clarke adds, < it is also true, that they who do not hold 
fast faith and a good conscience till death, have no room 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 71 

to hope for an admission into the kingdom of God.' 
Com. in loc. 

He is careful to assert the necessity of faith even 
to the end of life, as essential to final salvation, though 
he does not, and could not, assert, that the text has any 
reference to that suhject ; it is only by accommodation 
that he so applies it. But the reader will observe, that 
in his interpretation of its direct and literal import, he 
agrees with the other authors quoted. 

5. Whitby. ■ And ye also shall be hated of all the 
men of the world for my name's sake ; but he that en- 
dureth to the end of these persecutions from the unbe- 
lieving Jews shall be saved from the dreadful destruction 
coming on them. But when they persecute you in this 
city, i. e. in any one city, flee ye into another; for verily 
I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of 
Israel till the son of man be come with his Roman ar- 
my to destroy that nation, and to burn up their cities. ' 
Par. in loc. 



SECTION XVIIL 

'Andiear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; 
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell/ — 
Matt> x. 28. 

The parallel place is Luke xh. 4, 5. All the ortho- 
dox Commentators, so far as I have examined, agree in 
supposing the words, destroy both soul and body in hell, 
to imply the endless torment of the wicked* And so 
far as they are concerned, therefore, I have only to say, 
the word here translated hell, is gehenna. The read- 
er will find several remarks on this word, worthy of con- 
sideration, in the notes on Matt. v. 22, 29, 30. 

Although it is foreign to my general plan, in this 
work, to give even a sketch of the arguments by which 



72 SELECTIONS FROM 

Universalists sustain their interpretations of the scrip- 
tures, (except so far as those arguments are contained 
in the quotations made from orthodox writers,) yet I 
hope to be pardoned for departing somewhat from my 
usual course in the present instance. 

For several years, Universalists generally, I believe, 
held the following opinions : — They supposed the person 
having power to destroy soul and body, to be God : The 
soul, (psuche) they understood to be the natural life ; 
and they supposed some ignominious or painful manner 
of death to be indicated by the word hell, (gehenna,) 
provided any metaphorical sense were given to it, and 
it were not allowed to indicate, according to its literal 
import, the valley of Hinnom. See the notes on Matt* 
v. 22. They then said, 

1. That the text does not declare that God will des- 
troy both soul and body, but only that he is able to do 
it. To show that because God is able to perform an 
act, it does not necessarily follow that he will do it, they 
appealed to Matt. iii. 9, ' Think not to say within your- 
selves we have Abraham to our father ; for I say unto 
you, God is able of these stones to raise up children 
to Abraham. 5 And even if stones here be understood 
figuratively, as some suppose, to represent the Gentiles, 
they appealed further to Matt. xxvi. 53. ' Thinkest 
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall 
presently send me more than twelve legions of angels ?' 
Although God was able to send these angels, yet he 
did not do it. 

2. That if God should exert his power and destroy 
both soul and body, annihilation, and not endless mise- 
ry would be the consequence ; for utter destruction is 
the most natural import of the word appollumi, render- 
ed destroy, in the text. 

In either case, they contended that the doctrine of 
endless misery could not be supported by this text. 

But recently, Rev. Hosea Ballou has offered a 
conjecture of a different character. He proposes the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 73 

following paraphrase, as expressing the sense of the 
passage, as recorded in Luke xii. 4, 5. 

" And I say unto you, my friends, be not so much 
afraid of them who have power only to scourge you in 
their synagogues, and to administer cruel tortures to 
your bodies, but have no authority to take your lives, as 
of that more extensive authority to which your brethren 
the Jews will deliver you, by bringing you before gover- 
nors and kings ; for this power can, after inflicting cru- 
elties on your bodies, doom your lives and bodies to be 
destroyed in gehenna." Uni. Expositor, Vol. ii. p. 241. 

How extensively this conjecture has been, or may be, 
approved among Universalists, I have no means to form 
a very correct opinion. It has^ at the least, one especial 
merit. It provides a way to avoid the direct contradic- 
tion which appears to exist between verse 28, and 31, 
of Matt. x. according to any interpretation before given, 
by Universalists or orthodox. 

Having said thus much, I may be allowed to mention 
a few of the reasons given by Mr. Ballou, in support of 
his conjecture : — 

1. He quotes Psalm li. 16, 17, 1 Sam. xv. 22, Jer. 
vii. 22, 23, and John xii. 44, to show, ' that in scripture 
language it often occurs, that when a preference is to 
be given to one of two things, the less requires an entire 
negative, in order to heighten the other.' This he does 
to justify his understanding, fear not them, fyc. but fear 
him, fyc. to mean, fear him, rather than them. The 
passage in Matthew has very nearly the same form. And 
in fact it is a well known Hebrew idiom, that a direct 
affirmation is often made respecting one subject, and a 
direct denial in regard to another, when nothing more is 
intended than that the one is more probable than the 
other. See Grotiusin Matt. xii. 31, 32. 

2. To justify his conjecture that apokteino, translated 
kill, means, in this place, to torture, he states the fact, 
that the Jews had not legal power to execute capital pun- 
ishments ; but that power was vested in the Roman gov- 

7 



74 SELECTIONS FROM 

ernment, to which the Jews were subject. He quotes 
Matt. x. 17, 18, and founds, to say the least, a very 
plausible argument upon it> to show that Jesus had this 
fact in his mind, when he uttered the words in the text. 
He further observes that Parkhurst, in his Lexicon, says 
that apokteino generally implies cruelty and barbarity. 
To the remarks of Mr. Ballou, I add the following : 
Although Parkhurst, and Lexicographers generally, in- 
terpret this word, to kill, either with or without cruelty 
and barbarity, yet some define it differently. 

1. Donnegan. In the Greek and English Lexicon 
of Donnegan, recently published, one definition given to 
apokteino, is, to torture, in distinction from destroying 
life ; and classical authority is quoted for this definition. 
I know not how high a rank Donnegan is destined to 
attain, as authority; but the writer quoted below is al- 
lowed on all hands to be worthy of confidence : — 

2. Schleusner. As one definition of the word in 
question, Schleusner has the following : — c to make mis- 
erable or unhappy.' He quotes Rom. vii. 11, as an 
instance of this signification, (sin, taking occasion by the 
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me ;) where 
instead of ' slew, me/ he renders apekteinen me, c be- 
came the cause of misery.' He next refers to Matt. x. 
28, (the passage under consideration,) where instead of 
• are not able to kill the soul, 5 he renders the phrase, 
- are not able to deprive the soul of its happiness. 5 

According to Schleusner, then, this word may mean, 
to deprive one of happiness, or to make one miserable. 
True, he supposes it to indicate, in the text, the death 
of the body, and only the distress of the soul. But he 
has given no reason, and I know of none, why it may 
not indicate torture, rather than death, in relation to the 
body, as well as to the soul. If this be its meaning, 
and if psuche, (soul) be here used in its very common 
signification of natural life, or the life of the body, then 
the text will certainly admit this interpretation : c fear 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 



75 



not him, (or that power,) which can only torture your 
bodies, but is not able to destroy its life ; rather fear 
him, (or that power,) which is able to destroy (apole- 
sai) the body and its life, or cut you off from the land 
of the living, by an ignominious death. For this sense 
of the word Gehenna, see the notes on the preceding 
passages in which the word occurs. 

For a more full illustration of this subject, the reader 
is referred to the article in the Expositor, before men- 
tioned. A sermon on Luke xii. 4, 5, by Rev. S. Cobb, 
entitled ' The Destruction of Soul and Body in Gehen- 
na,' in which the author has advanced opinions some- 
what similar to those of Rev. Mr. Ballou, is replete with 
sound sense and argument, and will repay an attentive 
perusal. 

Without the presumption of deciding which of the 
two grounds taken by Universalist writers, in relation to 
this passage, is most tenable, I may be allowed to say, 
that, in my judgment, on either ground, it may easily be 
shown that Jesus had no intention to indicate the end- 
less misery of mankind by their destruction in Gehenna. 



SECTION XIX.* 

e He that findeth his life shall lose it : and he that loseth his life for my 
sake, shall find it.' — Matt. x. 39. 

It may seem strange that any should have supposed 
this passage to teach the doctrine of endless misery ; 
yet such is the fact. Our Saviour, however, does not 
seem to have had any such intention. His words evi- 
dently imply that those who were willing to hazard their 
lives, by attending on his ministry, giving heed to his 
doctrine, obeying his precepts, and proclaiming to their 

* Mat. x. 33. See notes on Mark viii. 38. 



76 SELECTIONS FROM 

fellow men the truths which he taught, should be pre- 
served alive ; while those, who, through fear of the 
Jews, avoided him, and disregarded his instructions and 
warnings, should be overwhelmed in that tremendous 
destruction, which w T as about to come upon that wicked 
and devoted nation. And his testimony was remarkably 
verified. When the hour of destruction approached, the 
disciples of Jesus, mindful of the directions he had giv- 
en them, escaped from the city, and found, or preserved, 
their lives ; while the disobedient, and inattentive, and 
those, who, through an overweening desire for the praise 
of men, had conformed to the prejudices of the Jews, 
and slighted the means of safety, were involved in the 
common ruin. Thus perished more than a million during 
the siege, and at the overthrow, of Jerusalem. A sim- 
ilar interpretation of this passage is given in the following 
quotations : — 

1. Hammond. 8 This comfort meanwhile ye have, that 
as he that useth any way of compliance with the perse- 
cutors, and so escapes their malice, and saves his life, 
shall gain little by this, but be involved in the destruction 
which awaits them ; so on the other side, he that shall 
hazard the utmost, that he may stick close to me, shall 
be likely to fare best even in this world. For thus I fore- 
tell you it will be; some to comply with the persecuting 
Jews, and to escape their persecutions will renounce 
Christianity, and feign themselves zealous Jews, and so 
when destruction falls upon the Jews, as it certainly shall 
most heavily, they shall be involved in that destruction, 
and that is all they shall get by that compliance, and pu- 
sillanimity : Whereas at the same time, they that comply 
not, and so venture all that the Jews' malice can do 
against them, shall, by the destruction of their persecu- 
tors, be rescued from that danger, and live to see a 
peaceable profession of Christianity ; or if they do not, 
have the loss of a short temporary life rewarded with an 
eternal.' Par. in loc. 

2. Clarke. Dr. Clarke seems to have had some idea 
that the misery of the soul hereafter is implied in this 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 77 

verse, yet still he explains it to relate merely to the loss 
of the natural life, in its literal sense. Hence he says : — 
* He that jindcth his life shall lose it: This was literally 
fulfilled in Archbishop Cranmer. He confessed Christ 
against the devil, and his eldest son, the Pope. He was 
ordered to be burnt ; to save his life, he recanted, and 
was, notwithstanding, burnt. Com. in loc. 

For further observations on the import of this phrase, 
see the notes on Matt. xvi. 25, 26, and the parallel 
places, where the phraseology is very similar. See al- 
so Hammond's note on ver. 22, of this chapter. 



SECTION xx. 

• But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at 
the day of judgment, than for you. And thou. Capernaum, which art ex- 
alted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell : for if the mighty works 
which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have 
. remained until this day. But I say unto you. That it shall be more tolera- 
ble for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for thee. ? Matt. 
xi. 22—24. 

The parallel places are Mark vi. 11, and Luke x. 12 — 
15. It should be observed that the word here translat- 
ed hell, is not gehenna, * (which occurs Matt. v. 22, 
29, 30, &c.) but hades, a word of very different signi- 
fication, although our translators saw fit to render it like 
the other. 

As the word hell occurs a number of times in the Bi- 
ble, and as many people seem to suppose, that wherev- 
er it occurs, it must indicate a place of torment in the 
future world, it may be proper to observe here ; that 

*For the convenience of the reader, I subjoin a list of the places, in 
which gehenna and hades occur in the New Testament. 

Gehenna. Matt. v. 22, 29, 30, x. 28, xviii. 9, xxiii. 15, 33. Mark ix. 43, 
45, 47. Luke xii. 5. James iii. 6. 

Hades. Matt. xi. 23, xvi. 18. Luke x, 15. xvi. 23. Acts ii. 27, 31. 1 
Cor. xv. 55. Rev. i. 18. vi. 8, xx. 13, 14. 



78 SELECTIONS FROM 

hades, one of the words thus translated, is almost inva- 
riably rendered grave or pit in the old Testament ; but 
in the New, (where it occurs eleven times,) it is in 
every instance except one, translated hell. But it should 
be known, that the best orthodox critics admit that this 
word, howsoever translated, does not mean a place of 
torment after death. I shall quote the words of Dr. 
Campbell, as sufficient authority on this point. As his 
remarks are equally applicable to all the passages in 
which this word occurs, the reader will do well to notice 
them carefully, and if occasion require, refer to them, as 
he reads the notes on the other texts. The other quo- 
tations which follow, have especial reference to the text 
under consideration. 

1. Cambbell. ' As to the word hades, which occurs in 
eleven places of the New Testament, and is rendered 
hell in all, except one, where it is translated grave, it is 
quite common in classical authors, and frequently used 
by the seventy, in the translation of the Old Testament. 
In my judgment, it ought never in scripture to be render- 
ed hell, at least in the sense wherein that word is univer- 
sally understood by Christians. In the Old Testament 
the corresponding word is Sheol, which signifies the state 
of the dead in general, without regard to the goodness or 
badness of the persons, their happiness or misery. In 
translating that word the seventy have, almost invari- 
ably used hades. This word is also used sometimes in 
rendering the nearly synonymous words, or phrases, 
hor, and abne bor, the pit, and stones of the pit; tsal moth, 
the shades of death, dumeh, silence. The state is always 
represented under those figures which suggest something 
dreadful, dark, and silent, about which the most prying 
eye and listening ear, can acquire no information. The 
term hades is well adapted to express this idea. To 
this the word hell, in its primitive signification, perfectly 
corresponded. For, at first, it denoted only what was se- 
cret or concealed. This word is found, with little varia- 
tion of form, and precisely in the same meaning, in all 
the Teutonic dialects. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 7\) 

How far the ancient practice of burying the body may 
have contributed to produce this idea concerning the 
mansion of the ghosts of the deceased, I shall not take 
it upon me to say ; but it is very plain, that neither in 
the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, nor in the 
New, does the word hades convey the meaning which the 
present English word hell in the Christian usage always 
conveys to our minds. It were endless to illustrate this 
remark by an enumeration and examination of all the 
passages in both Testaments wherein the word is found. 
The attempt would be unnecessary, as it is hardly now 
pretended by any critic, that this is the acceptation of the 
term in the Old Testament.' PreL Diss, vi. Part ii. 
§ 2, 3. 

2. Hammond. ' The judgment or punishment which 
befals mere heathen cities, shall be easier, or less, than 
that which expects you. And thou, Capernaum, the 
place of my abode, which hast been so honored and fa- 
vored by me, beyond all other places, and hast received 
such spiritual advantages, shalt be brought to destruc- 
tion and desolation suddenly, humbled as thou wert high- 
ly advanced, for if the miracles done in thee, on design 
to reform thee, had been done in Lot's time for the re- 
forming of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom would certain- 
ly have reformed, and so should not have been destroy- 
ed. And therefore you in all reason are to expect a sad- 
der destruction and vastation than that which befel Sod- 
om and Gomorrah.' Par. in loc. 

4 Hell, (hades,) doth not here signify the place of hell, 
but a state of perishing or dissolution : and because this is 
the first place, wherein the word is used in this book, it 
will not be amiss more largely to clear the notion of it. 
Among profane writers it is clear, that the word signi- 
fies not the place of the damned, no nor any kind of 
place, either common to both, or proper to either bliss 
or woe, but only the state of the dead.' Dr. Hammond 
illustrates his views by quotations from various Greek 
authors, and notices their fancies respecting this state. 
He also notices the use of the word hades, in the scrip- 
tures. He concludes by observing that in the verse un- 
der consideration the meaning is, ■ a state of destruction, 



SO SELECTIONS FROM 

and desolation humbled to this low estate, as be- 
fore lifted up to heaven.' Annot. in loc. 

3. Pearce. * See note on chap. \5. Brought down to 
hell : i. e. to the grave ; it means, thou shalt be quite ru- 
ined and destroyed. So it was in the wars of the Jews 
with the Romans, and there are now no footsteps re- 
maining of it, nor of Bethsaida or Chorazin.' Com. hi loc. 

4. Kenrick. Ver. 23, ' Thou who art rich and flour- 
ishing by thy trade, shall be entirely ruined and destroy- 
ed : which happened in the wars between the Jews and 
Romans , so that there are no vestiges of it remaining ; 
nor of Bethsaida and Chorazin. To be lifted up to heav- 
en, is a proverbial expression for being in a flourishing 
condition, or in an exalted station: the opposite to this, 
to be degraded and ruined, is expressed by being brought 
down to hell ; not to the place of punishment reserved 
for the wicked, but to the grave, to the lowest place. 
The prophet Isaiah says of the king of Babylon, (xiv. 
13,) 'for thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into 
heaven : I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.' 
Thus he expresses the prosperity that monarch once en- 
joyed ; but he adds, (ver. 15,) ' yet thou shalt be brought 
down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 1 

Ver. 24 6 The calamities which shall come upon thee 
for rejecting my miracles, shall be more dreadful than 
those which befel Sodom.' Exjjos. in loc. 

5. Clarke. 4 The word hell, used in the common 
translation, conveys now an improper meaning of the 
original word ; because hell is only used to signify the 
place of the damned. But as the word hell comes from 
the Anglo-Saxon hclan, to cover, or hide, hence the tyling 
or slating of a house is called, in some parts of Eng- 
land, (particularly Cornwall,) heling, to this day ; and the 
covers of books, (in Lancashire) by the same name , so 
the literal import of the original word hades was formerly 
well expressed by it. Here it means a state of the utmost 
woe, and ruin, and desolation, to which these impenitent 
cities should be reduced. This prediction of our Lord 
was literally fulfilled; for in the wars between the Ro- 
mans and the Jews, these cities were totally destroyed, 
so that no traces are now found of Bethsaida, Chorazin, 
or Capurnaum.' Com. in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 81 

I have quoted the more authorities on this passage, for 
the reason that many imagine the word hell, or the phrase 
day of judgment, when alone, must have reference to 
the future life ; and especially when, as in this place, 
they are found together, it is considered rank heresy to 
doubt the common interpretation. I was desirous there- 
fore to show, that ours is no private interpretation, by 
the testimony of a sufficient number of standard writers, 
of different denominations ; hence, I have quoted Camp- 
bell, a Calvinist; Pearce and Hammond, Episcopali- 
ans ; Kenrick, a Unitarian ; and Clarke, a Methodist. 
The reader will indulge tw T o more quotations, one of 
which is taken from an author already named, but on a 
different part of the subject. 

6. Beausobre and Lenfant. * Shall be hrought down 
to hell}, This is a scriptural expression to denote extreme 
abasement, or utter ruin. See Isa, xiv. 13 — lo ; lvii. 9, 
Capurnaum was so entirely destroyed that travellers have 
scarcely been able to find here, half a dozen huts. A& 
to the word hades, (hell,) it does not here signify the 
place of the damned, and scarcely ever does it have that 
signification in scripture. It signifies simply the grave, 
or the place and state of the dead.' Note in loc. 

7. Hammond. ' Even the very dust of your city which 
cleaveth on us, we do wipe off as a testimony of your ob- 
stinacy, and usage of us, (Matt. x. 14; Luke ix. 5,) and 
as a token to assure you that your destruction is very 
near falling on you. But I say unto you, that it shall be 
more tolerable when that judgment comes, (ver. 14,) for 
Sodom than for that city. Woe unto you, ye cities of Jew- 
ry, among whom so many miracles have been shewn, to 
work faith in you, and so to bring you to repentance,, and 
all in vain ; had the like been done in heathen cities near 
you, they in all likelihood would have been wrought on 
by them. And accordingly their portion in the ven- 
geance approaching, shall be more supportable than 
yours. And thou, Capurnaum, which art exalted to 
heaven, shalt be thrust down to destruction and desola- 
tion. See Matt. xi. 23.' Par. in Luke x. 11 — 15. 



82 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION XXI. 



• Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall b$ 
forgiven unto men : but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not 
be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son 
of man, it shall be forgiven him : but whosoever speaketh against the 
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither' in this world, neither in 
the world to come.' — Matt. xii. 31, 32. 

The parallel places are Mark iii. 29, and Luke xii. 10. 
The language of Jesus respecting the blasphemy against 
the Holy Spirit, and its consequences, has long been 
considered conclusive proof that the doctrine of endless 
misery is true. And many are so firmly persuaded of 
this, that they can scarcely hear it doubted, with any 
considerable degree of patience. Nevertheless, their 
own Commentators give a different view of the subject. 

Two things are especially observable in the extracts 
which follow: (1,) The writers agree that the phrases, 
this world, and the world to come, denote, not the pres- 
ent life and the future, but the Jewish and the christian 
dispensations : (2,) They agree that however aggra- 
vated might be the sin of blasphemy against the Holy 
Spirit, yet on repentance it might, .and would be forgiven. 
Hence, before this passage can be used in support of the 
doctrine of endless torment, it must first be proved that 
some will never repent : for if all repent, all will be for- 
given. This has not been proved : and good and suffi- 
cient reasons might be adduced, if this were the proper 
place for them, to show that the endless impenitence of 
men cannot be proved. But, for my present purpose, 
it is sufficient that the authors I •shall quote, admit that 
there is no sin, which may not be forgiven, on sincere 
repentance ; of course, the text, of itself, does not, in 
their judgment, prove the doctrine, which the less skilful 
suppose it to prove. 

1. Hammond. On this passage, Hammond has a 
long note, in which he contends that this sin shall never 
be forgiven, unless it be repented of; which, so far as I 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 83 

know, has never been disputed by any man. But that 
he did not consider the text positive proof that any por- 
tion of mankind shall endure endless misery, seems evi- 
dent ; because, although he states a case, at the end, in 
which he thinks repentance will never be exercised, yet 
he is clearly of opinion, that all sins, however aggravat- 
ed, not excepting the sin against the Holy Ghost, (which 
he defines to be the attributing the miracles of Christ to 
the power of the devil,) shall be forgiven, upon repent- 
ance. I quote the concluding part of his note : — 

1 The issue of this whole matter, as far as concerned 
the Pharisees there, was this, that unless their sins were 
particularly retracted by repentance, and Christ received 
and acknowledged upon these miracles of his, or after- 
wards by the conviction, which the Holy Ghost should 
work upon the crucirlers, they can never have pardon or 
remission : not that they that were here guilty should nev- 
er after repent, or upon repentance be accepted; this is not 
said here, or in any other place ; but rather the contrary 
is every where affirmed in the scriptures, which offereth 
repentance to all, (and that so really, that by the grace 
of Christ, and the Holy Ghost assisting his word, they 
may receive it,) and promiseth pardon to all, be they 
never so great sinners, so they do amend their lives 
sincerely, and lay hold on God's mercy in Christ. And 
this is particularly applied to those Pharisees, by force 
of Christ's prayer for his crucirlers, (which certainly was 
heard,) Father, forgive them, that is, deny them not the 
means of forgiveness, (the power of repenting,) and for- 
giveness if they shall repent. And accordingly the Apos- 
tles after teach, that God hath exalted Christ to his right 
hand to give repentance unto Israel, Acts v. 31, that is, to 
all Israel, Acts ii. 36, 38, and particularly those crucify- 
ing rulers, Acts iii. 17, whose ignorance is there, as on 
the cross by Christ, urged to make their case the more 
hopeful , not that it was not notoriously vincible and 
criminous, but that they had not yet received all those 
means and methods of the Holy Ghost for their conver- 
sion, the greatest of all being yet behind, the raising up 
Christ from the dead, to be such a sign to move them, as 



84 



SELECTIONS FROM 



Jonas was ; whereupon he tells them, ver, 38, &c. that 
that only sign more they should have, (though they were a 
malicious and adulterous generation,) and when that was 
witnessed by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the 
Apostles, and the preaching, and miracles wrought by 
that descent, then they that come not in to Christ shall 
never be forgiven, nor be capable of any further means 
of working repentance in them, this being indeed the 
last that should ever be allowed them.' Annot. in he. 

6 He that shall resist the Holy Spirit, (see note on 
Matt. xii. 3*2,) there is no pardon to be had for him with- 
out particular repentance and reformation.'* Par. in Mark 
iii. 29. 

8 Here are added by St. Luke words spoken by Christ 
on another occasion, Matt. xii. 32, and seem to be ap- 
plied by him to the aggravation of the sin of the Phari- 
sees, on occasion of whom this whole passage from verse 
1, was delivered; that they that by the meanness of 
Christ's human appearance are tempted to deny him to 
be the Messias, and do accordingly oppose him, may 
have some place for pardon, and be in some degree ex- 
cusable , but they that attribute his works of power, (his 
miracles done visibly by the finger of God,) to the work- 
ing of the devil in him, there is no place of excuse and 
mercy for them, if they do not, upon the resurrection of 
Christ, and the Apostles preaching it to them, return and 
repent, and effectually receive Christ .' Par. in Luke 
xii. 10. 

2. Gilpin. * Nobody can suppose, considering the 
whole tenor of Christianity, that there can be any sin, 
which on repentance may not be forgiven. This there- 
fore seems only a strong way of expressing the difficulty 
of such repentance, and the impossibility of forgiveness 
without it. Such an expression occurs, Matt. xix. 24, 
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, 
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven; that 
is, it is very difficult. That the Pharisees were not be- 
yond the reach of forgiveness on their repentance, seems 
to be plain from ver. 41, where the repentance of the 
men of Nineveh is held out to them for an example,' Note 
in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 85 

3. Grotius. On ver. 31, Grotius says, * This form of 
speech is a common Hebraism : the Jews often said, 
this shall be, and that shall not be; not intending however 
to affirm absolutely that the first should be, (and of course 
not affirming' absolutely that the last should not be,) but 
merely to show that the last was much more unlikely or 
difficult, than the first. The sense,' says he, ' is this : 
any crime which may be committed, even all calum- 
nies, (or blasphemies,) which hold the first rank among 
crimes, may be forgiven more readily than the calumny, 
(or blasphemy,) against the Spirit of God. See a similar 
comparison, 1 Sam. ii. 25.' Annot. in loc. 

In the place here referred to, Grotius follows the 
reading of the Vulgate, (which is similar to that of the 
LXX., but different from our English version,) thus : 
' If a man sin against man, God may be appeased to- 
wards him ; but if a man sin against God, who shall pray 
for him ?' This might seem to imply that all sins against 
men should be forgiven, while no sin against God could 
receive forgiveness ; and in this respect the passage is 
similar to that which is the subject of this section. But 
Grotius expresses a different opinion of its import. He 
says — r 

' All sins indeed are offensive to God, but chiefly those 
which are committed directly against his Majesty. See 
Acts v. 5, and what I have said on Matt. xii. 31. In re- 
lation to such crimes, however, God does not always hear 
(or regard) intercessions, as appears from chap. iii. J 4, 
Ezek. viii. 18, Jer. vii. 16, 1 John v. 16.' Annot. in 1 
Sam. ii. 25. 

His meaning seems to be this ; — God will more rea- 
dily extend forgiveness to those w T ho sin against their fel- 
low men, than to those who sin directly against him. 
And the first member of the text is not to be understood 
as an absolute affirmation, nor the last, as an absolute 
negation ; but a comparison between the two is expres- 
sed, after the manner of the Hebrews. 

4. Pearce. • Neither in this world, fyc. Rather, 



86 SELECTIONS FROM 

neither in this age, nor in the age to come : i. e., neither 
in this age when the law of Moses subsists, nor in that 
also, when the kingdom of heaven, which is at hand, shall 
succeed to it. This is a strong way of expressing how 
difficult a thing it was for such a sinner to obtain pardon. 

The Greek word aion, seems to signify age here, as it 
often does in the New Testament, (see chap. xiii. 40, 
xxiv. 3, Col. i. 26, Eph. iii. 5, 21,) and according to its 
most proper signification. If this be so, then this age 
means the Jewish one, the age while their law subsisted, 
and was in force ; and the age to come, (see Heb. vi. 5, 
Eph. ii. 7,) means that under the Christian dispensation. 
Under the Jewish law, there was no forgiveness for wil- 
ful and presumptuous sins : concerning them it is said, 
Num. xv. 30, 31, The soul, which doeth aught presumptu- 
ously, the same reproacheth the Lord ; and that soul shall 
be cut of from from among his people, because he hath des- 
pised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his command- 
ments. See to the same purpose, Num. xxxv. 31, Lev. 
xx. 10, 1 Sam. ii. 25. With regard to the seculum futu- 
rum, the age to come, or the Christian dispensation, no 
forgiveness could be expected for such as these Phari- 
sees were ; because, when they blasphemed the Holy 
Spirit of God, by which Jesus wrought his miracles, they 
rejected the only means of forgiveness, which was the 
merit of his death, applied to men by faith, and which, 
under Christianity, was the only sacrifice that could 
atone for such a sin : in this sense, (as things then stood 
with them,) their sin was an unpardonable one. But 
then it is not to be concluded from hence, that, if they 
repented of this blasphemy, they could not obtain for- 
giveness. The observation of Athanasius, vol. i. p. 237, 
Ed. Col. is very material. He says, ' Christ does not say 
to him that blasphemeth and repent eth ; but to him that 
blasphemeth; and therefore he means, to him that con- 
tinueth in his blasphemy ; for with God there is no sin 
that is unpardonable. 

And the truth of this observation will appear from the 
following instances : Jesus said, in Matt. x. 33, WJwever 
shall deny me before men, him loill I also deny before my 
Father, where the threatening is as strong as this in the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 87 

case of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost ; and yet, when 
Peter shortly afterwards denied Jesus before men three 
times, joining oaths and curses with his denials, yet, upon 
his repenting and weeping bitterly, he was not only for- 
given, but continued in his apostleship. Again, whenJe- 
sus was on the cross, some of the rulers derided him, say- 
ing, he saved others, let him save himself, if he be Christ, 
the chosen of God, Luke xxiii. 35. By which words, it 
appears that they acknowledged Jesus to have wrought 
miracles, and yet rejected him, denying that he wrought 
them by the holy spirit of God; and yet Jesus prayed to 
his Father that they might be forgiven, Luke xxiii. 34. 
To this may be added, that in this chapter, ver. 38 — 41, 
those Pharisees who had blasphemed against the Holy 
Ghost asked for a sign, and our Saviour gave one to 
them, viz., the sign of the prophet Jonas ; and what could 
this sign be given for, unless for their conviction, and for 
disposing them to repent, and in consequence of this to 
be forgiven 1 From all which, it may (I think,) be con- 
cluded, that to speak against the Holy Ghost (as those 
Pharisees did,) was therefore not to be forgiven in that 
age, or in the age to come, because no means of obtain- 
ing forgiveness for it was to be found, either in the Jew- 
ish law, or under the Christian dispensation ; but that, 
however, upon their repentance, they might be forgiven, 
and admitted to the divine favor.' Com, and Note in 
loc. 

5. Wakefield. ''Age; aioni ; i. e., the Jewish dis- 
pensation, which was then in being, or the Christian, 
which was going to be established. But an attentive 
reader of the scriptures will perceive, that, under this 
sort of phraseology, a comparison is intended to be made, 
as if he had said — Though the Christian religion is a dis- 
pensation of mercy, this sin shall no more be forgiven by 
the laws of the gospel, that it is by the law of Moses, 
under which the punishment was death, Lev. xxiv. 16.' 
Note in loc. 

6. Rosenmuller. This author closes a long note 
on the passage thus : — 

* The sense of these words of Jesus would be this : — 



00 SELECTIONS FROM 

1 will rather endure any other injury whatever, than ex- 
cuse and pardon this impiety.' Scholia in loc. 

7. Clarke. 'Neither in this icorld, fyc. Though I 
follow the common translation, yet I am fully satisfied the 
meaning of the words is, neither in this dispensation, viz., 
the Jewish, nor in that which is to come, viz., the Chris- 
tian. Olam ha-bo, the world to come, is a constant phrase 
for the times of the Messiah, in the Jewish writers. The 
sin here spoken of by our Lord ranks high in the cata- 
logue of presumptuous sins, for which there was no for- 
giveness under the Mosaic dispensation. See Num. xv. 
30, 31, xxxv. 31, Lev. xx. 10, 1 Sam. ii. 25. When our 
Lord says that such a sin hath no forgiveness, is he not 
to be understood as meaning that the crime shall be pun- 
ished under the Christian dispensation as it was under 
the Jewish, viz., by the destruction of the body ? And is 
not this the same mentioned 1 John i. 7, called there the 
sin unto death, i. e., a sin that was to be punished by the 
death of the body, while mercy might be extended to 
the soul ? The punishment for presumptuous sins, under 
the Jewish law, to which our Lord evidently alludes, cer- 
tainly did not extend to the damnation of the soul, though 
the body was destroyed ; therefore I think that, though 
there was no such forgiveness to be extended to this 
crime as to absolve the man from the punishment of 
temporal death, yet, on repentance, mercy might be extend- 
ed to the soul ; and every sin may be repented of under 
the gospel dispensation.' Com. in loc. 

The foregoino; testimonies are sufficient to show that, 
orthodox commentators being judges, the blasphemy 
against the Holy Ghost does not necessarily involve the 
endless misery of the offender ; but that, like other sins, 
it may be forgiven, on repentance. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 



SECTION XXII. 



' But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they 
shall give account thereof in the day of judgment/— Matt. xii. 36. 

These words seem to have been spoken by Jesus to 
show the reasonableness of what he had before said in 
relation to the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and its 
punishment. He declares that for every idle, or foolish, 
or unprofitable word, men must render an account : much 
more then, must they render an account for such ma- 
licious words as were used when they attributed the 
miracles of Jesus to the power of the devil. From the 
phrase, day of judgment, many have supposed this ac- 
count must be rendered, and reward or punishment ad- 
ministered, in the future life. But the reader will see 
from the foregoing notes, that this phrase does not ne- 
cessarily convey such an idea. Dr. Clarke says the day 
of judgment to any particular person or city is the day 
when such person or city receives punishment from God. 
' So the day of judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah was 
the time in which the Lord destroyed them by fire and 
brimstone, ' &c. See his note on Matt. x. 15. 

Lightfoot. ' In Matt. xii. 36, the rema argon, or idle 
word, for every one of which our Saviour saith men shall 
give an account, (he doth not say shall be condemned or 
punished,) may perhaps be of the same importance with 
that which the Talmudists and Rabbins call, " the talk of 
those who are idle/' at leisure, have little to do ; such as 
is used among people in ordinary conversation,when they 
meet together : — as, What news 1 How doth such a per- 
son ? or the like. Even this may be well or ill done, pru- 
dently or foolishly : and therefore even of this an account 
will be required.' Works (8vo. Ed.) vol. i. 27, 28. 

Lightfoot says nothing as to the time w T hen this ac- 
count should be rendered, and judgment passed, whether 
in this life or the next. At all events, he could not have 



90 SELECTIONS FROM 

supposed that the invariable penalty annexed to idle 
words is endless torment ; because he expressly says 
that Jesus ' doth not say he shall be condemned or pun- 
ished. 5 The most that can be made of it is, that, even 
for such trivial actions as idle words, men are account- 
able to God, and shall be rewarded or punished according 
to the goodness or badness of these, as of all other ac- 
tions. But it by no means follows that this must be done 
in the future life : for ( there is a God that judgeth in 
the earth. 7 



SECTION XXIII. 



1 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and 
shall condemn it : because they repented at the preaching of Jonas 5 and 
behold a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise 
up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it : for she 
came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solo- 
mon ; and behold a greater than Solomon is here.'" — Matt. xii. 41, 42. 

The parallel place is Luke xi. 31, 32. I know not 
for what reason this text should be supposed to furnish 
proof of future torment, except the mere fact that it con- 
tains the word judgment. This word, many seem to 
imagine, cannot have legitimate application to any thing 
in this world, forgetting that ' there is a God that judgeth 
in the earth.' But I believe not much reliance is placed 
on this passage, for the purpose mentioned ; hence the 
fewer quotations may suffice. The reader will notice that 
in what follows, not a hint is given that Jesus had what 
is called the day of general judgment in his thoughts. 

1. Theophylact. * After Jonas was delivered from the 
whale, and commenced preaching, the men of Ninevah 
believed. But when I shall have risen from the dead, ye 
will not believe. Wherefore ye shall be condemned by 
the Ninevites, who believed on my servant without the 
testimony of miracles, though they were barbarians : 
but ye will not believe on me, the Lord, though ye have 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 91 

the advantage of the ancient prophecies, and my miracles 
which ye have seen.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Gilpin. ' But as Jonas is a type, let the men of 
Nineveh be an example to you. They repented at the 
preaching of Jonas, who performed no miracle among 
them : but you turn a deaf ear to one who teaches you 
under the manifest authority of God. The queen of She- 
ba took a long journey to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; 
while you reject the voice of heavenly wisdom itself, 
which even cries in your streets.' Expos, in loc. 

3. Hammond. ' And they that are not convinced and 
brought to repentance by my resurrection and the preach- 
ing of my apostles, which shall be consequent to that, 
their sin and condemnation shall be much greater than 
that of the Ninevites was : for upon Jonas' recovery from 
the whale's belly, and coming to preach to them, they 
repented, Jon. iii. ; whereas the resurruction of Christ, 
and mission of the Spirit, and preaching of the apostles 
over all Judea after that, is a far greater way of convic- 
tion, than that recovery and preaching of Jonas. For 
certainly here is that which is infinitely more than all 
that wisdom of Solomon, manifestations of God infinitely 
more discernable than ever Solomon's wisdom was, which 
yet was so talked of that it brought in foreign princes 
from afar at the news of it.' Par. in loc. 



SECTION XXIV. 



1 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry 
places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return to 
my house from whence I came out ; and when he is come, he findeth it 
empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself 
seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell 
there ; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so 
shall it be also unto this wicked generation. ; — Matt. xii. 43 — 4o. . 

The parallel place is Luke xi. 24 — 26. Some have 
supposed this passage to indicate the future torment of 
those of whom the words were originally spoken, and of 
all others in like circumstances. But Jesus seems rather 



92 SELECTIONS FROM 

to have spoken of the character of the Jews, as a nation ; 
and of course the consequences implied are to be under- 
stood as having regard to the people in their collective, 
rather than in their individual capacity. Now it is a 
fact, admitted by all orthodox critics, that, generally, 
when Jesus denounced the judgments of God on the 
Jewish nation, he had reference to temporal calamities, 
and especially to their memorable destruction by the 
Romans. And I see nothing in the text which leads 
to the conclusion that he spake of a different kind 
of punishment here. Of the writers, quoted below, some 
confine their remarks to the most obvious purport of the 
text, to wit, its purport, as descriptive of the Jewish 
character. But as many as speak of the consequences 
implied, i. e. the punishment the Jews would incur by 
by their impenitence and obstinacy, evidently understand 
it to indicate the severe temporal calamities then ap- 
proaching. 

1. Beausobre and Lenfant. 6 The Jews had often 
experienced the severe judgments of God ; they had been 
in some measure reformed, and had obtained mercy. 
But at last they incurred entire ruin, by obstinately re- 
jecting the gospel, and crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ.' 
Note in loc. 

2. Kenrick. ' The sense of these verses may be thus 
expressed : It is commonly supposed, that if daemons 
leave a man but return to him, the disorder, which is no 
other than madness, comes upon him with seven-fold vio- 
lence ; for that is all we are to understand by seven other 
spirits. So it will be with you ; notwithstanding some 
appearance of repentance and reformation, on the preach- 
ing of John the Baptist, and the ministry of the Messiah, 
your vices will return upon you with double violence, 
and bring down upon you heavier judgments. Christ 
here speaks, all along, upon the principles of his hearers, 
making use of a common notion concerning daemons, to 
illustrate the truth of what lie was going to say respect- 
ing the Jews. The reason of his having recourse to this 
comparison, seems to have been, his having cast out a 
daemon in the presence of the multitude. We should 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 93 

say, at the present day, when a fever is expelled, if the 
person cured does not take great care of his health, the 
same disease returns, and the relapse is much more dan- 
gerous and difficult to cure, than the original disease. 
In like manner it is in regard to the man who has begun 
to break off vicious habits ; if he return to them, they 
become stronger and more inveterate than before. Pe- 
ter has expressed the same sentiment : " for if, after 
they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through 
the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
they are again entangled therein and overcome, the lat- 
ter end is worse with them than the beginning," 2 Pet. ii. 
20.' Expos, in he. 

It will be observed that Beausobre and Lenfant speak 
of the entire ruin of the Jewish nation, as the conse- 
quence of their greater sinfulness, compared with other 
severe judgments , they had experienced in consequence 
of less enormous sins. And Kenrick, in like manner 
speaks of heavier judgments, compared with others 
which had before been endured. From the manner of 
the comparison, it is evident they understood the entire 
ruin, and the heavier judgments, to be of the same 
nature as the other severe judgments before experi- 
enced : i. e. temporal calamities. 

3. Grotius. 6 Christ appears to have had reference to 
the character of the Jewish people, at the two periods of 
their captivity in Babylon, and their destruction by Ti- 
tus. Before their captivity, the people were exceedingly 
wicked, as may be seen in the Prophets ; during their 
exile many began to reform, and under a superintending 
Providence, returned to their native land. But in the 
days of the Asmoneans, having again plunged into ex- 
cessive wickedness, they added to their other crimes, a 
contempt of the Messiah, who came to them with a mes- 
sage of mercy, and exercising miraculous power. Hav- 
ing done this, they were abandoned by God, and became 
the most wicked of all men, as Josephus has described 
them in his history of their last days.' Annot. in loc. 

4. Elsley. * As each man is in a worse state on 
relapsing to evil, so this generation, numbers of whom 
have had strong convictions of my doctrine and mira- 



94 SELECTIONS FROM 

cles, shall, on resisting these good resolutions, and re- 
lapsing to unbelief, become more obdurate and aban- 
doned than before ; which was the case before the des- 
truction of Jerusalem. See Josephus. The connexion 
of the Gentiles and the " dry and barren places" seems 
overstrained. Macknight.' Annot. in loc. 

5. Dutch Annotations. ' By this similitude Christ 
teacheth, that when a man by the knowledge of the gos- 
pel is freed from his natural ignorance, and notwithstand- 
ing lives not according to it, but keeps it under, he is 
much worse than before, see 2 Pet. ii. 20, 21.' Annot. 
in loc. 

6. Macknight. ' This parable is designed to teach 
men in every age the danger of resisting their convic- 
tions, and of breaking through their resolutions, the 
effect being commonly to render them much more obdu- 
rate and abandoned than before, see 2 Pet. ii. 20. Harm. 
Evan. § 48. 

7. Wynne. ' The Jews, instead of growing better, 
will grow seven times worse than before, as a natural 
and judicial consequence of their rejecting the Messiah 
and his offers of grace. We find by Josephus, that this 
was remarkably the case.' Note in loc. 



SECTION XXV. 



c Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heav- 
en is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his fieM : But while 
men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went 
his way. But when the blade .was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then 
appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and 
said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field 1 from whence 
then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The 
servant said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up ? 
But he said, Nay 5 lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the 
wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest : and in the 
time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, 
and bind them in bundles to burn them 3 but gather the wheat into my 
barn.' — Matt. xiii. 24 — 30. 

The explanation which Jesus gave of this parable to 
his disciples, is as follows : 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 95 

1 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the 
Son of man 3 The field is the world 3 the good seed are the children of the 
kingdom 5 but the tares are the children of the wicked one 3 The enemy 
that soweth them is the devil 3 the harvest is the end of the world 5 and 
tbe reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burn- 
ed in the fire 5 so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man 
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do iniquity 3 And shall cast them into 
a furnace of fire 3 there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then 
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. 
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.' — Matt. xiii. 37 — 43. 

Inasmuch as both the parable and the explanation, 
particularly the last, contain certain highly figurative 
expressions, which were often used, and well understood 
by the Jews, many, who are less acquainted with the 
original import of this kind of language, suppose that Jesus 
must have intended to teach the doctrine of torment 
in the future life. It will appear, however, from the 
quotations I shall offer, that there is authority, sufficient- 
ly orthodox, for understanding all these figurative phra- 
ses as descriptive of events which should occur on the 
earth, during the natural life of man. 

1. Pearce. Ver. 40. € End of this world : Rather end 
of this age, viz. that of the Jewish dispensation.' 

Ver. 41. ' Shall send forth his angels : This is spoken, 
not of what shall happen at the end of the world, but of 
what was to happen at the end or destruction of the 
Jewish state.' 

' I have explained this and the foregoing verse, as re- 
lating, not to the end of the world, but to that of the 
Jewish state, which was to be destroyed within forty 
years after Jesus' death ; for the same manner of ex- 
pression is made use of, where it is more certain, that 
not the time of the general judgment, but that of the vis- 
itation of the Jews is meant ; viz. in chap. xvi. 27, 28. 
This last verse, accomplished in one of the apostles at 
least, (I mean John,) plainly shows that all the phrases 
used in the first verse were designed to express only the 
destruction which was to befal the Jewish state ; at 
which time the Christians, who endured to the end, were 
to be saved, chap. x. 22, and xxiv. 13. These are 
called the elect in chap. xxiv. 22, 24- And ecclesiastical 



96 SELECTIONS FROM 

history informs us, that by a divine admonition, the faith- 
ful christians retired from Judea, before the ruin of it by 
the Romans, and were preserved. See chap. iii. 12, and 
Luke xxi. 18, 36, and especially note on Matt. xxiv. 13.' 
Com. and note in loc. 

2. Hammond. The phrase sunteleia ton aionos, ver. 

39, (end of the world,) Dr. Hammond translates cow- 
clusion of the age ; and sunteleia tou aionos touto, ver. 

40, (end of this world,) he renders, conclusion of this 
age. In his paraphrase he seems to interpret the para- 
ble in a twofold sense : he applies it, (1,) literally to the 
temporal destruction about to come on the Jewish na- 
tion, and the deliverance of believers from that destruc- 
tion ; and (2,) by accommodation, to the day of future 
judgment. But whatever he might have supposed to 
be its remote, or mystical allusion, he evidently inter- 
prets its literal sense as having relation to temporal con- 
cerns. His paraphrase follows : 

'The field is this world, the place of our living here ; 
that part of the parable that concerneth the good seed, 
signifies the christians ; but that of the tares, signifies 
the wicked seducers; such were the Gnostics, and other 
heretics of the first times, such are all heretics and scis- 
inatics since. The time when believers and unbelievers 
(and seducers) shall be called to account, is, to this peo- 
ple, that solemn approaching time of their visitation, as 
to all other people, the time of final excisions, and es- 
pecially the day of judgment. So shall it be at God's 
times of eminent discrimination, such as his judgments 
on the Jews, and such the last dreadful day of doom. 
Christ by his messengers and instruments of his justice, 
shall destroy all heretics and scismatics, that any way 
keep others from the christian religion, and all that live 
professedly in any unlawful course of contrariety to chris- 
tian purity. Then shall the true, pure christian profes- 
sors shine eminently in the church here, and after in 
glory.' Par. in loc. 

3. Cappe. ' All the terms of this parable deter- 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 97 

mine it to relate to the catastrophe of the Jewish state : 
the sower is the Son of man ; the period of the event 
that is spoken of, is the accomplishment of the age, which 
in scripture language relates, uniformly, I believe, to the 
end of the Mosaic economy, and the solemn admonition 
with which the parable is closed, C| who hath ears to hear, 
let him hear," does itself yield a presumption, that the 
parable was particularly interesting to the people of that 
generation ; and it is upon such occasions only, as were 
nearly interesting to the hearers of our Lord, that it is 
commonly or indeed ever applied in his discourses. The 
sense therefore is this : Then, when the son of man, by 
his messengers, in the end of this age, shall have de- 
stroyed the tares, the children of the wicked one, who 
disgrace the profession, or debase the purity, or obstruct 
the progress of his truth, when he shall have put down 
authority and power, subdued his enemies under him, he 
shall reign; and the children of the kingdom, they who 
are faithful to practice and to teach what they have learnt 
of me, delivered out of the general desolation, shall be 
served and exalted by that which has been the fall and 
the destruction of the Judaizing persecutors, hypocrites, 
and unbelievers. They shall shine as the lights of the 
world " a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle," hold- 
ing forth the word of life, and rejoicing in the patronage 
of God, and the deliverance he has wrought for them.' 
Crit Rem. i. 179, 180. 



SECTION XXVI. 



1 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net ; that was cast into the 
sea, and gathered of every kind. Which, when it was full, they drew to 
shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad 
away. So shall it be at the end of the world : the angels shall come forth, 
and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the 
furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth/ Matt. xiii. 
47—50. 

This parable was manifestly spoken with the same 
9 



yb SELECTIONS FROM 

design which is embraced in the passage last noticed, 
The imagery is somewhat different, yet the object ap- 
pears to be the same ; and the same rule of interpreta- 
tion should be applied to both. Such is the course pur- 
sued by the writers quoted below. 

1. Pearce. Ver. 49, ' End of the world: rather age; 
See Com. on ver. 40, and note on ver. 41.' Com. in loc. 

By thus referring to what he has said on the preceding 
verses, for an explanation of this passage, it is manifest 
that he understood the two to be of similar character. 
By examining his remarks on ver. 40, 41, of this chap- 
ter, (already quoted,) the reader will discover the manner 
in which these passages should be interpreted. 

2. Hammond. Ver. 49, ' So shall it be, at the time 
wherein Christ shall come to work his revenge upon his 
enemies, not only at the destruction of the Jewish state, 
(wherein that discrimination shall be made betwixt be- 
lieving and unbelieving Jews, reformed and unreformed,) 
but especially at the final day of every man's doom, at 
the conclusion of the world.' Par. in loc. 

Dr. Hammond explains this parable, like that of the 
wheat and tares, in a twofold sense, alluding (1,) to the 
circumstances of the Jewish nation, at the time of the 
great calamity, then near at hand ; and (2,) to the gen- 
eral judgment. It should be observed, however, that 
the first appears to be given as the natural import of the 
parable, the second as the spiritual : in other words, the 
first is given as matter of fact, obviously indicated by 
the text itself; the second is superadded as matter of 
opinion. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 99 



SECTION XXVII. 

• For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it : and whosoever will lose 
his life for my sake, shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in ex- 
change for his soul V Matt. xvi. 25, 26. 

The parallel places are Mark viii. 35 — 37, and Luke 
ix. 24, 25. A siznilar passage occurs in Matt. x. 39, 
which has been noticed in its place. 

The only popularity this text has been able to acquire, 
as affording proof that some men shall be endlessly mis- 
erable, arises from what an orthodox commentator, (Dr. 
Clarke,) pronounces to be a false translation. I venture 
to say, if it had at first been translated as this writer ac- 
knowledges it ought to be rendered, no one would have 
ever suspected that it contained proof of misery in the 
future life ; as it is, however, it furnishes a principal ar- 
gument in almost every book, or sermon, or tracts writ- 
ten in opposition to the salvation of all mankind. It of 
course deserves notice in the present place. In addition 
to what is here said, the reader is referred to the notes 
on Matt. x. 39. 

1. Pearce. Ver. 25, * Rather is willing for desirous,) 
to save his life. Luke xvii. 33, says, shall seek to save his 
life. This is meant of the time of the destruction of the 
Jewish state. See ver. 27, 28.' Ver. 26, ' Rather lose 
his life, as in ver. 25, and in chap. ii. 20, and x. 39. 
Agreeably to this, Luke says, lose himself chap. ix. 25.' 
Com. in loc. 

The same writer says, ( Rather lose his life, as in ver. 
35. See Com. on Matt. xvi. 26.' — Com. in Mark viii. 
35, 37. On ver. 35, to which he refers, Bishop Pearce 
says, ' That this was meant of w T hat was to come to pass 
in the destruction of the Jewish state, see ver. 38, of 
this chapter, together with chap. ix. L' 

2. Wakefield. i Or, to redeem his life ; i. e., when it 



100 SELECTIONS FROM 

is once lost; for, as Homer says, onden psuches antazion, 
there is no equivalent of life? Note in loc. 

3. Hammond. Doctor Hammond, like some others, 
gives this passage a Rouble interpretation ; he first inter- 
prets it according to its literal import, and then adds, by 
way of improvement, what he considers to be its remote 
or mystical allusion, as follows : — t 

'And let me tell him, that the great care of preserving 
himself, if it make him to deny or forsake me, in the 
pursuit of it, shall not be a probable course of standing 
him in any stead in this world ; it shall be the very means 
to destroy many, who, if they continued firm to their 
profession, might probably escape, (see Matt. xvi. 25,) 
and, however, the advantages to the constant, and losses 
to the cowardly, in another life, are infinitely above all 
other considerations. The losing of life here, if it hap- 
pen by an unchristian desire to save it, or however, ever- 
lasting death, is so great a loss, that nothing else is worth 
having, that is so purchased.' Par. in Mark viii. 35, 
36, 37. 

4. Campbell. « With the forfeit of his life: English 
translation, Lose his own soul. Forfeit comes nearer 
the import of the original word, which Doddridge has 
endeavored to convey by a circumlocution, should be pun- 
ished with the loss of his life. But the chief error in the 
English translation lies in changing, without necessity, 
the word answering to psuche, calling it, in the preceding 
verse, life, and in this, soul. The expressions are pro- 
verbial, importing, It signifies nothing how much a man 
gain, if it be at the expense of his life.' Note in loc. 

Dr. Campbell adds, though for what reason he has 
not informed us, — ' That our Lord had a principal eye 
to the loss of the soul, or of eternal life, there can be 
no doubt. But this sentiment is couched under a pro- 
verb, which, in familiar use, concerns only the present 
life. 5 The reader will observe, that, according to Dr. 
Campbell, the language of Jesus concerns only the pre- 
sent life : and if he had his eye on something else, it 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 101 

must be determined by some other testimony than is 
afforded by this passage. 

5. Clarke. ' Lose his own soul; or lose his life. On 
what authority many have translated the word jpsuche, in 
the 25th verse, life, and in this verse, soul, I know not ; 
but am certain it means life, in both places. If a man 
should gain the whole world, its riches, honors, and plea- 
sures, and lose his life, what would all these profit him, 
seeing they can only be enjoyed during life ?' Com. in 
loc. 



SECTION XXVIII, 



1 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his an- 
gels ; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Veri- 
ly I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of 
death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.' — Matt. xvi. 
27,28. 

The parallel places are said to be Mark viii. 38, ix. 
1, and Luke ix. 26, 27. But as the phraseology in 
those passages is different from that which occurs here, 
I shall notice them under Mark viii. 38 ; the connexion 
is the same, however, in regard to all the texts named. 

This passage is, by some, said to be descriptive of 
the general judgment. But there is abundant orthodox 
authority for giving it a different interpretation. I quote 
authorities the more freely, as this text is so very fre- 
quently alleged in proof of misery after death. 

1. Gill. Dr. Gill says the coming of Christ, ver. 27, 
may mean either his coming at the general judgment, or 
at the destruction of Jerusalem. But ver. 28> he says, 
' seems chiefly to have regard to his coming to show his 
regal power and authority, in the destruction of the Jews.' 
Expos, in loc. 

2. Wynne. 'Coming in his kingdom; i. e., coming to 
visit the Jews by the destruction of their city, of which 
some who were present should be eye-witnesses.' Note 
in loc. 

9* 



102 



SELECTIONS FROM 



3. Clarke. Ver. 27, i This seems to refer to Dan. vii. 
13, 14 ; ; - Behold one like the Son of man came — to the 
ancient of days — and there was given him dominion, 
and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, 
and languages, should serve him." This was the glorious 
Mediatorial kingdom which Jesus Christ was now about 
to set up, by the destruction of the Jewish nation and 
polity, and the diffusion of his gospel through the whole 
world, If the words be taken in this sense, the angels or 
messengers may signify the apostles and successors in 
the sacred ministry, preaching the gospel in the power 
of the Holy Ghost. It is very likely that the words do 
not apply to the final judgment, to which they are gener- 
ally referred : but to the wonderful display of "God's 
grace and power after the day of Pentecost.' 

Ver. 28, ' This verse seems to confirm the above ex- 
planation, as our Lord evidently speaks of the establish- 
ment of the Christian church, after the day of Pentecost, 
and its final triumph after the destruction of the Jewish 
polity : as if he had said, " Some of you, my disciples, shall 
continue to live till these things take place.*' The des- 
truction of Jerusalem, and the Jewish economy, which 
our Lord predicts, took place about forty-three years 
after this ; and some of the persons now with him doubt- 
less survived that period, and witnessed the extension of 
the Messiah's kingdom : and our Lord told them these 
things before, that when they came to pass they might 
be confirmed in the faith, and expect an exact fulfilment 
of all the other promises and prophecies which concern- 
ed the extension and support of the kingdom of Christ.' 
Com. in Joe. 

4. Cappe. ; The desolation of Judea, Matt. xvi. 27, 
is called the coming of the Son of man in the glory of 
Ins Father, with his angels.' Crit. Rem. i. 150. 

•5. Pearce. * This is meant of his coming to visit and 
punish the Jews, as in ver. 35. See chap. xxiv. 30, and 
xxvi. 64, Dan. vii. 13, and Rev. i. ?.' — < John the apos- 
tle, (we know for certain,) lived long enough to see this 
coming of Jesus in his kingdom. See John xxi. 22, 23.' 
Com. in loc. 

6. Hammond. ' Coming in his kingdom : — The near- 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 103 

ness of this to the story of Christ's transfiguration makes 
it probable to many, that this coming of Christ is that 
transfiguration of his ; but that cannot be, because, ver. 
27, the Son of incur s coming in his glory with his angels to 
reward, fyc, (to which this verse clearly connects.) can- 
not be applied to that. And there is another place, John 
xxi. 23, (which may help to the understanding of this,) 
which speaks of a real coming, and one principal person, 
(agreeable to what is here said of some standing here.) 
that should tarry, or not die, till that coming of his. And 
that surely was fulfilled in John's seeing the famous des- 
truction of the Jews, which was to fall, in that genera- 
tion, Matt, xxiv., that is, in the life time of some there 
present, and is called the kingdom of God, and the com- 
ing of Christ ; and by consequence, here most probably 
the Son of man's coming in his kingdom is, his coming in 
the exercise of his kingly office, to work vengeance on 
his enemies and discriminate the faithful believers from 
them,' &c. Annot. in Joe. 

7. Knatchbull. ; This place can scarce mystically be 
understood, by no means literally, but of the coming of 
the Son of man to the destruction of Jerusalem, who then 
may truly be said to come in his kingdom, when he came 
to triumph over his enemies the Jews, by taking a severe 
and just vengeance of them. Of his resurrection, which 
is also called his kingdom, it reasonably cannot. For 
what wonder were it, if some of the standers by should 
live to see him coming in his resurrection, which came to 
pass in so short a time ? But if any of them should 
live to see the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened 
so many years after his passion, that might deserve the 
notice. And that some of the standers by, when our Sa- 
viour spoke those words, did remain alive to that very day, 
is true and known. And in this sense it is true. Verily, 1 
say unto you. this generation shcdl not pass till cdl these 
things be fulfilled, chap. xxiv. 34. Neither before this time 
of his coming did the disciples go over all the cities of Israel, 
chap. x. 23. And in this sense did John remain alive till 
Christ came, whereof see more, John xxi. 2'2.' Annot. in 
loc. 

8. Beausobre and Lenfant. « In his kingdom : Jesus 



104 SELECTIONS FROM 

Christ may be said to have commenced his reign, at his 
resurrection, and ascension into heaven ; but the pouring 
out of the Spirit upon the apostles, and especially the 
terrible judgment which he executed upon the Jewish 
nation, about forty years after his death, should be re- 
garded as the consequences and effects of his glorious 
reign. St. John survived this last event.' Note in loc. 

9. Rosenmuller. ' In this passage reference is had 
to the propagation of the gospel through the whole 
world, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish 
state, as we learn from ver. 28.' Scholia in ver. 27. 

It may not be improper to remark, in this place, that 
Dr. Beecher, also, has borne a certain kind of testimony, 
that in his opinion, this passage affords no proof of end- 
less torment. I mention the circumstance, not to bring 
odium upon him, but to show that even his eyes were 
once, for a moment, open to the light. He was reading 
this passage, commencing at ver. 25, in the Baptist 
meeting-house in Cambridge. Perceiving, as it would 
seem, that the close of the passage would prove his ap- 
plication of it to be manifestly wrong, he stopped short, — 
and sought an escape from his difficulty. He read 
thus : — 

' For whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; and who- 
soever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what 
is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange 
for his soul ? For the Son of man shall come in the 
glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall 

reward every man according to his works. Verily I 

hem ! and another evangelist says, Whosoever denies me, 
I will deny him.' See Univei*salist Magazine^ Vol. viii. 
p. 175. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 105 



SECTION XXIX. 



'Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little 
( hildren, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ; Matt, xviii. 3. 

The parallel places are Mark x. 15, and Luke xviii. 
17. These words are frequently quoted, as affording 
proof that a portion of mankind will never be saved. 
But that they admit an easy application to the affairs of 
the present life, may be seen from what follows : — 

1. Gill. ' Ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven: 
ye shall be so far from being one greater than another in 
it, that you shall not enter into it at all ; meaning his 
visible, spiritual kingdom, which should take place and 
appear after his resurrection, upon his ascension to heaven, 
and pouring forth of the spirit. And it is to be observed, 
that the apostles carried these carnal views, contentions, 
and sentiments, till that time, and then were turned from 
them, and dropped them ; for, upon the extraordinary 
effusion of the Holy Spirit, they were cleared of these 
worldly principles, and understood the spiritual nature of 
Christ's kingdom ; which they then entered into, and 
took their place in, without envying one another, having 
received the same commission from their Lord and Mas- 
ter.' Expos., in loc. 

2. Hammond. ' Unless you change your inclinations 
and desires, and take yourselves off from this vain ambi- 
tious expectation and pursuit of a carnal kingdom of 
Christ, and of your receiving dignities and pre-eminencies 
in it, you can never be true disciples of Christ, this car- 
nal ambition, and projecting, being so contrary to the 
christian temper.' Par. in loc. 

i Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them 
not, for these are of that temper of Humility and meek- 
ness, which is so necessary an ingredient in a Christian. 
Mark x. 15. Verily I say unto you, there is no admission 
or reception to Christianity, but for such.' Par. in Luke 
xviii. 16, 17. 

3. Gilpin. ' But Jesus rebuking his disciples, bado 



106 SELECTIONS FROM 

them suffer the little children to come unto him ; for their 
innocence, and simplicity of manners, were the true em- 
blems of those virtues, which must adorn every one, who 
wished to be a member of his kingdom.' Expos, in Mark 
x. 15. 

4. Whitby. After noticing the extravagant expec- 
tations entertained by the Jews in relation to the reign 
of the Messiah, Dr. Whitby proceeds thus : — 

4 Christ plainly tells them, (his disciples,) that these in- 
clinations, desires, and expectations were inconsistent 
with their being members of that spiritual kingdom 
which he was to erect ; since they who followed him chiefly 
on these accounts, when they saw no such thing could be 
expected from him, but rather the quite contrary, must 
desert him ; and therefore he requires them, to fit them 
for this kingdom, to become, as to these things, like little 
children, who are absolutely free from all contrivances 
and designs of this nature, never concerned in the least 
for empire, and dominion over others, or for increase in 
wealth or great possessions, and know not what a post 
of honor, or what wealth means ; this, saith our Lord, 
being that which will remove all that obstructs your en- 
trance into my kingdom, and make you the most eminent 
subjects of it, (ver. 4,) and so shall be regarded by me ; 
for to encourage all men to show the greatest kindness to 
them, I let them know that I will accept and reward all 
kindness done to them, as if it were done to myself; and 
will severely punish all that shall offend them, (ver. 5, 6).' 
Annot. in loc. 

5. Campbell. 4 Unless ye be changed: — The English 
term? to convert ) denotes always one or other of these 
two things ; either to bring over from infidelity to the 
profession of the true religion, or to recover from a state 
of impenitence to the love and obedience of God. Nei- 
ther of these appears to be the meaning of the word here. 
The only view is, to signify that they must lay aside their 
ambition and worldly pursuits, before they be honored to 
be the members, much more the ministers, of that new 

-establishment or kingdom, he was about to erect.' Note 
in Iqc, 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 107 

While such confident believers in the doctrine of end- 
less misery, as Gill, and Hammond, and Whitby, and 
Campbell, allow that this text affords no proof of its 
truth, we need not be immoderately alarmed, even though 
some ministers of the present day think, or at the least 
speak, differently on the subject. 



SECTION XXX. 



1 Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast 
them from thee j it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed; 
rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. 
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee : it is bet- 
ter for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes. 
to be cast into hell-fire . ; — Matt, xviii. 8, 9. 

The parallel place is Mark ix. 43 — 48. So far as 
I have examined, all the orthodox commentators agree 
in referring this passage to the concerns of the future 
life; chiefly, it would seem, on account of the word 
gehenna, which occurs here. The reader is referred, 
for some remarks on this word, to the notes on Matt. v. 
22, 29, 30. 



SECTION XXXI. 



1 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which 
would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, 
one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But 
forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and 
his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The 
servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have 
patience with me 5 and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant 
was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, 
which owed him a hundred pence : and he laid hands on him, and took 
him by the throat, saying, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-ser- 
vant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with 



108 SFLECTIONS PROM 

me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not : but went and cast him 
into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw 
what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord 
all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto 
him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou de- 
siredst me ; Shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow- 
servant, even as I had pity on thee ? And his lord was wroth, and deliv- 
ered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye forgive not 
every one his brother their trespasses. 7 — Matt, xviii. 23 — 35. 

This parable was designed to teach men their duty to 
forgive each other, in view of God's goodness and grace 
to themselves ; and to teach them further that God 
would surely recompense them according to their deeds, 
if they neglected this duty. Most commentators refer 
the punishment, denounced by implication, to the future 
life, though they interpret the parable itself as having 
relation to temporal affairs only. I have not found any, 
so far as my examination has extended, who make a 
direct application of the whole passage to temporal con- 
cerns, though some, as Rosenmuller and Kenrick, seem 
to leave the matter in doubt, whether the punishment 
belong to this life or the next. Grotius says, the celes- 
tial kingdom, or kingdom of heaven, in this place, signi- 
fies ' the period after the advent of Christ. 5 And he, 
like the others I have named, leaves it somewhat doubt- 
ful whether he understood the punishment to belong to 
the present, or the future life. 



SECTION XXXII. 

1 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily, I say unto you, that a rich 
man shall hardly enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, 
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.'*— Matt. xix. 23 — 24. 

The parallel places are Mark x. 24, 25, and Luke 
xviii. 24, 25. That the phrase 'kingdom of heaven, 
has relation to a state of things in the present life, may 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 109 

be seen by the following quotations from standard wri- 
ters : — 

1. Gilpin. 'How almost impossible is it, said Jesus, 
turning to his disciples, for a rich man to become a sin- 
cere christian. The disciples expressing their surprise at 
what he said, he explained himself by adding, that the 
difficulty arose, not so properly from their having riches, 
as from their trusting in them — from their being so at- 
tached to them, as this person was ; who, when called on 
by his religion, could not give them up. It was impos- 
sible, he said, for any person, under the influence of such 
a disposition, to be a member of his kingdom.' Expos, in 
Mark x. 24, 25. 

' Jesus, on this, observed the very great difficulty of a 
rich man's being properly disposed to receive the gospel ; 
and when his disciples expressed their concern at what 
he said, he added, that he spoke only of man unassisted 
by divine grace. By God's grace, said he, all the bad 
dispositions of our hearts, and all the temptations of the 
world, may be conquered.' Expos, in Luke xviii. 24, 25. 

2. Pearce. 'A rich man, i. e., as Mark expresses 
it, a man who trusteth in his riches. Shall hardly ; i. e., 
not without great difficulty. Enter into the kingdom of 
heaven; i. e., become one of my disciples.' Com. in loc. 

3. Elsley. ' It may be read " will " hardly enter; 
meaning, that, in the approaching time of persecution, a 
rich man will hardly be persuaded to be a disciple of 
Christ ; which is here called entering into the kingdom 
of heaven. Wall's Critical Notes.' Annot. in loc. 

Kenrick. ' The kingdom of heaven here means, as 
in several other parts of the evangelists, the body of 
Christians. To come into this kingdom, therefore, is to 
become the disciple of Christ. Christ says that the rich 
are unwilling to do this ; riches generally corrupted the 
manners, and made men averse to the pure precepts of 
the gospel, as a yoke which they were unable to bear. 
This aversion was further strengthened by the losses to 
which men in those times were exposed, by assuming the 
name of Christians. Two instances are mentioned in 
the gospel, of rich men becoming the disciples of Christ ; 
10 



110 SELECTIONS FROM 

the one is Joseph of Arimathea, and the other Nicode- 
mus ; but the difficulty which they felt in doing it, is ev- 
ident in both cases : for the former was a disciple of 
Christ secretly, for fear of the Jews ; and the other, no 
doubt from the same motive, came to him by night : but 
the young ruler, of whom we have here an account, had 
not resolution to do either the one thing nor the other.' 
Expos, in Joe. 

5. Rosexmuller. ' To enter into the kingdom of heav- 
en, is to join the company of Jesus, and become his fol- 
lower. The rich, says Jesus, cannot become my follow- 
ers without difficulty. Riches are frequently an excite- 
ment to evil, and certainly an impediment to virtue. 
The reason is this : — the rich, generally, are accustomed 
to trust in their riches, and account them the chief good, 
as Mark indicates, x. 24. And this difficulty was the 
greater, in those days, on account of the dangers to which 
they who professed the name of Jesus were exposed ; 
for those who acknowledged Jesus to be the Messiah, 
were excommunicated, and deprived of their possessions. 
John ix. 22, 34, xii. 42.' Scholia in loc. 

From the preceding quotations, it is seen that, in the 
opinion of these commentators, Jesus had reference, 
not to the difficulty with which rich men should obtain 
final salvation, but to the difficulty they experienced in 
becoming his disciples — his professed followers. Of 
course the passage affords no proof that any portion 
of the human race will endure endless misery ; inasmuch 
as the words have respect to the affairs of the present 
existence alone. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. Ill 



SECTION XXXIII. 

* Hear another parable j There was a certain householder, which plant- 
ed a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press in it, 
and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far coun- 
try : And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the 
husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husband- 
men took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned 
another. Again he sent other servants more than the first : and they did 
unto him likewise. But last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying. 
They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, 
they' said among themselves. This is the heir 5 come, let us kill him. and 
let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out 
of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard 
cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen ? They say unto him, 
He will miserably destroy those wicked men. and will let out his vineyard 
unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 
Jesus said unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures. The stone 
which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner : 
this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ? Therefore say 
I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a 
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this 
stone, will be broken : but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him 
to powder.-' — Matt. xxi. 33 — 14 

The parallel places are Mark xii. 1 — 11, and Luke 
xx. 9 — 13. Some have attempted to show that this 
passage relates to punishment in the future life. But 
Jesus appears to have had no such intention. In con- 
sequence of their extreme wickedness, he assures the 
Jews their peculiar privileges as the people of God, 
here termed i the kingdom of God,' should be taken 
from them and bestowed on others. So much of the 
passage has manifest relation to the affairs of the present 
life. And I see no necessity that the remainder should 
have a different application. The writers quoted below 
give a similar view of this parable. 

1. Dutch Annotations. ; In this parable or simili- 
tude, God the Father is compared to the father of a fam- 
ily, the church of the Jews to a vineyard, the priests 
and scribes to husbandmen, the prophets and faithful 
teachers to servants, Christ to the son of the father of 
the family, and faith and obedience to fruits ; which 
seeing they did not bring forth, therefore their ruin by 



112 SELECTIONS FROM 

the Romans is threatened, and the calling of the Gentiles 
in their room foretold. See the like similitude, Psalm 
ixxx. 9, Isa. vi. 1, Jer. xii. 10.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Lardner. * The calling and acceptance of the 
Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jewish people, and 
even their overthrow, are plainly declared in the parable 
of the vineyard, let out to husbandmen, and the discourse 
which follows, Matt. xxi. 33 — 46. The same things are 
intimated in the parable of the king that made a wedding 
feast for his son, which is at the beginning of the next 
chapter, xxii. 1 — 14.' Hist. Apos. and Evang. chap. v. 

6 The call of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the 
Jews, as a people, are intimated in Mark xii. 1 — 12, in 
the parable there recorded of the householder, who plant- 
ed a vineyard,' &c. Hist, Apos. and Evang. chap. vii. 

3. Gilpin. ' Jesus, having thus silenced the chief 
priests, continued the subject, by setting before them, in 
the audience of the people, their hardened, impenitent, 
and dangerous state, the ungrateful returns which the 
Jews had made to God, for all his calls of mercy, and, 
finally, God's intention of casting them off, and adopting 
the Gentiles in their room.' Expos, in Mark xii. 1 — 11. 

' He then showed them, in a very severe parable, that 
God would certainly punish them in the end, for rejecting 
all his calls of mercy, and would adopt the Gentiles in 
their room.' Expos, in Luke xx. 9 — 18. 

4. Rosenmuller. ; The kingdom of God, in this place, 
signifies the rights and privileges of those who are under 
his government. The Jews had hitherto enjoyed much 
greater benefits and privileges than other nations ; they 
were a people beloved of the Lord. Jesus declared that 
these rights should be taken from them. The sense, 
therefore, is this : the Jewish nation should no longer be 
the people of God, but another nation, more worthy the 
name, should be taken for his people. Nation, in this 
place, signifies, not only the Gentiles, but the whole num- 
ber of those who were collected from among the Jews 
and the Gentiles — all sincere professors of the christian 
doctrine.' Scholia in Joe. 

5. Clarke. Ver. 41,' He ivill miserably destroy those 
wicked men. So, according to this evangelist, our Lord 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 113 

caused them to pass that sentence upon themselves, 
which was literally executed about forty years after.' 

Ver. 44, * He, whether Jew or Gentile, who shall not 
believe in the Son of God, shall suffer grievously in con- 
sequence ; but on whomsoever the stone (Jesus Christ) 
falls in the way of judgment, he shall be ground to pow- 
der ; it shall make him so small, as to render him capa- 
ble of being dispersed as chaff by the wind. This seems 
to allude, not only to the dreadful crushing of the Jewish 
state by the Romans, but also to that general dispersion 
of the Jews through all the nations of the world, which 
continues to the present day.' Com. in Joe. 

6. Theophylact. This very ancient writer concludes 
his notes on this passage thus : — ' The kingdom, therefore, 
was taken from the Jews, that is, the privileges which 
constituted them the peculiar people of God — and given 
to them who believed. Those who fall upon the stone, 
and offend against Jesus Christ, shall be broken indeed 
at his second coming ; yea, even ground to powder by 
him ; that is, shall be scattered abroad through the earth : 
such we now see to be the situation of the miserable 
Jews.' Annot. in loc. 



SECTION XXXIV. 



' The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a mar- 
riage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bid- 
den to the wedding : and they would not come. x\gain, he sent forth other 
servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my 
dinner : my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready : 
come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, 
one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his 
servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the 
king heard thereof, he was wroth : and he sent forth his armies, and de- 
stroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his 
servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not 
worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, 
bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and 
gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good : and the 
wedding was furnished with guests, And when the king came in to see 
the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment : And 

*io 



114 SELECTIONS FROM 

he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding 
garment ? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, 
Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into utter dark- 
ness : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, 
but few are chosen. 7 Matt. xxii. 2 — 14. 

The parallel place is Luke xiv. 16 — 24. This para- 
ble is designed to teach the same truth which is taught 
under a different imagery in the passage last noticed ; to 
wit, the taking of the kingdom of God from the Jews, 
and the bestowing of it upon the Gentiles ; or the re- 
jection of the Jews as the peculiar people of God, and 
the admission of all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, 
to the blessings of the new r covenant. It has had its 
fulfilment in -this world : and therefore w T e need not go 
into another to seek it. 

1. Lardner. This passage is said by Dr. Lardner 
to relate to the calling and acceptance of the Gentiles, 
and the rejection and destruction of the Jewish nation. 
See his remarks quoted among the notes on Matt. xxi. 
33—44. 

2. Gilpin. 'A person in the company, pleased with 
these instructions, expressed aloud his sense of the hap- 
piness of those who lived under the influence of the gos- 
pel. Jesus closing with the sentiment, showed, under the 
following parable, how very undeserving the Jews there- 
fore were, in refusing its gracious offers ; and how justly 
they should be rejected in favor of the Gentiles. A rich 
man, said he, made a great feast, to which he invited his 
particular friends. But they, instead of attending, when 
called, absented themselves on trifling excuses. The mas- 
ter of the feast, displeased at this neglect, sent out his 
servants, and in the room of those unworthy guests, whom 
lie had first invited, filled his table with those, whom they 
accidentally met in the high-roads, and places of public 
resort.' Expos, in Luke xiv. 16 — 24. 

3. Clarke. 'From this parable it appears plain, (I,) 
That the king means the great God. (2,) His son, the 
Lord Jesus. (3,) The marriage, his incarnation, or es- 
pousing human nature, by taking it into union with him- 
self. (4,) The marriage feast, the economy of the gospel, 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 115 

during which men are invited to partake of the blessings 
purchased by, and consequent on, the incarnation and 
death of our blessed Lord. (5,) By those who had been 
bidden, or invited, ver. 3, are meant the Jews in general, 
who had this union of Christ with human nature, and his 
sacrifice for sin pointed out by various rites, ceremonies, 
and sacrifices under the law ; and who, by all the pro- 
phets, had been constantly invited to believe in, and receive 
the promised Messiah. (6,) By the servants, we are to 
understand the first preachers of the gospel, proclaiming 
salvation to the Jews. John the Baptist, and the seventy 
disciples, (Luke x. 1,) may be here particularly intended. 
(7,) By the other servants, ver. 4, the apostles seem to be 
meant, who, though they were to preach the gospel to the 
whole world, yet were to begin at Jerusalem, (Luke xxiv. 
47,) with the first offers of mercy. (8,) By their making 
light of it, &c. ver. 5, is pointed out their neglect of this 
salvation, and their preferring secular enjoyments &c. 
to the kingdom of Christ. (9,) By injuriously using some, 
slaying others, of his servants, ver. 6, is pointed out the 
persecution raised against the apostles, by the Jews, in 
which some of them were martyred. (10,) By sending 
forth his troops, ver. 7, is meant the commission given to 
the Romans against Judea, and burning up their city, and 
the total destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the son of 
Vespasian, which happened about forty-one years after.' 
Com. in loc. 

Thus far Dr. Clarke very clearly interprets the par- 
able, as having relation to temporal events. The re- 
mainder, he thinks, must be descriptive of torments after 
death. This course is also taken by Theophylact, Ros- 
enmuller, and others. But truly, I see no necessity for 
thus changing the rule of interpretation. However, this 
question is not for me to discuss in this place. The reader 
will discover by the quotation which follows, that one 
man at least, whose belief in the doctrine of endless 
misery no one questions, goes through this parable con- 
sistently, and interprets the whole, as belonging to the 
present life ; I mean Dr. Whitby, His meaning will 



116 SELECTIONS FROM 

be more fully understood by reading, in connexion with 
his remarks here, his note on Matt. viii. 11, 12, to which 
he refers : — 

4. Whitby. ' The doctrine of the kingdom of heaven, 
preached to this nation, is like to find a success answer- 
able unto that of a certain king who made a marriage for 
his son, and sent forth his servants to call them who were 
to be bidden to the wedding, viz., the apostles, and the 
seventy sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Matt. 
x. 6, Luke x. 1, and being thus lovingly invited, they 
would not come. Wherefore he again sent forth other ser- 
vants, viz., the apostles and the hundred and eight on whom 
the Holy Ghost fell, saying, Tell them that were bidden, 
behold I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat- 
lings are killed, and all things are ready ; come, I pray 
you, to the marriage feast ; But they made light of it, 
i. e., the invitation, and went their way, one to his farm, 
another to his merchandise. And the remnant of them 
took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew 
some of them. But when the king heard thereof, he 
was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed 
those murderers, and burnt up their city ; and so will this 
spiritual king deal with those of this nation who not only 
refuse his invitation to partake of the blessings of the 
gospel, but also kill his messengers : he by the Roman 
army will destroy them, and their capital city. Then 
saith he to his servants, the wedding feast is ready, but 
they who were bidden were not worthy, and therefore 
shall not taste of this feast. Go ye therefore into the 
highways, to the dispersion of the Jews, and to the Gen- 
tiles, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 
So these servants went out into the highways, and gath- 
ered together all, as many as they found, both bad and 
good, and the wedding was furnished with guests, and 
when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a 
man which had not on a wedding garment, i. e., a faith 
and conversation answerable to the design of the gospel. 
And he saith to him, Friend, how earnest thou in hither, 
not having a wedding garment ? And he was as one 
speechless. Then said the king to his servants, bind him 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 117 

hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into utter 
darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth: 
so shall it be with the Jews, the children of the kingdom, 
Matt. viii. 12, Luke xiii. 28. For many of the Jews are 
called, but few of them are chosen ; i. e., believers in the 
gospel. See note on 1 Peter, ii. 9. Par. in loc. 



SECTION XXXV. 



' Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye devour widows 7 
houses, and for a pretence make long prayers : therefore ye shall receive 
the greater damnation. 7 Matt, xxiii. 14. 

The parallel places are Mark xii. 40, and Luke xx. 
4 7. The damnation here mentioned has been supposed 
to belong to the future life. But this is by no means 
necessary. It seems rather to denote a punishment to 
be inflicted in the present state of existence. Such 
appears to have been the opinion of the writers mentioned 
below : — 

1. Dutch Annotations. 'That is, under pretence of 
devotion, and praying for them, ye rob them of their 
means. See also 2 Tim. iii. 6. Or under a pretence, or 
for a cloak, ye are long praying. Therefore shall ye re- 
ceive the heavier judgment: (Greek, more abundant. y 
Annot. in loc. 

2. Wynne. * Greater damnation; or shall be more 
severely punished. Krima> (damnation,) signifies judg« 
ment, or punishment.' Note in loc. 

3. Pearce. ' Damnation ; Rather judgment, or pun- 
ishment. See note on Mark xii. 40, and on Acts vii. 7.' 
Com. in loc. 

In the note on Mark xii. 40, to which he refers in 
the foregoing comment, Bishop Pearce says :— < 

1 Rather judgment, or punishment ; by which is meant, 
that they should suffer more severely than other Jews, 



118 SELECTIONS FROM 

when the Jewish state should be destroyed.' Com. in 
Mark xii. 40. 

4. Kenrick. ' You make great pretensions to devo- 
tion ; but it is only to gain the esteem and confidence of 
the weak and superstitious, that they may be induced to 
reward your piety, by giving you freely of their substance. 
Your long prayers are a cloak to your avarice, which 
you are willing to gratify at the expense even of widows, 
from whom, if you had any humanity, you would accept 
of no gratuity. Your pretences to piety, therefore, which 
serve to enhance your character among men, shall only 
expose you to severer vengeance from God, when he Visits 
the Jews for their sins.' Expos, in loc. 



SECTION XXXVI. 



' Wo unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye compass sea 
and land to make one proselyte 3 and when he is made, ye make him two- 
fold more the child of hell than yourselves/ Matt, xxiii. 15. 

In this passage, we again find the word gehenna ; for 
some remarks on its import, see the notes on Matt. v. 22, 
28, 29. Not a word is here said of endless punishment, 
or in fact of any punishment, except by implication. 
The phrase, ; child of hell,' or of gehenna, has reference 
to the character of the person to whom it is applied. 
A similar form of expression, c generation of vipers, ' 
occurs in the passage next to be noticed. This figure 
of speech was familiar to the Jews, and well understood 
by them. ' Child of hell ' means simply a very vile, 
wicked person, and has reference to the character of 
men in the present life. That it was very applicable 
to the Jewish .proselytes is manifest from the description 
given of their character by Josephus. The writers from 
whom I make the following selections, seem to have 
entertained a similar view of this passage : — 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 119 

1. Wynne. Child of hell; 4 i. e., a more hypocritical 
reprobate than yourselves. Diplos, false, seems to be 
here opposed to aplos, simple, sincere. Child of hell, and 
son of perdition, were terms of reproach among the Jews.' 
Note in loc. 

2. Pearce. ' Rather ticofold more a child of gehenna ; 
figuratively spoken, and meaning much worse than he 
was before ; perhaps meaning, more averse from receiv- 
ing the truths of the gospel.' Com. in loc. 



SECTION XXXVII. 



1 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation 
of hell V Matt, xxiii. 33. 

That this passage is to be interpreted with reference 
to severe temporal calamities, is manifest from the decla- 
ration of Jesus, in ver. 36, c all these things shall come 
upon this generation.' By the damnation of hell, Jesus 
unquestionably meant the same judgment which John 
the Baptist (Matt. iii. 7,) had before called the wrath to 
come. The words of the Baptist are explained by a 
great number of commentators, to indicate the severe 
judgment impending over the Jewish nation, which 
should terminate in the destruction of the city and tem- 
ple, and the slaughter and utter dispersion of the peo- 
ple. Yet strange as it may appear, notwithstanding the 
passage here quoted is so similar, and so clearly limited 
in its application to the affairs of the present life, by the 
words of Jesus, ver. 36, almost all the commentators 
interpret it to mean the torments of a future life, because, 
(and because only, as far as I can discover,) the word 
gehenna is here used, instead of orge, which occurs in 
the other place. But there are two orthodox critics, at 
least, who seem to have had a correct view of the sub- 
ject:— 



120 EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 

1. Pearce. Damnation of hell: — Rather judgment 
or punishment. See Com. on ver. 14.' Com. in loc. 

By examining the remarks here referred to, and quo- 
ted among the notes on ver. 14, of this chapter, the 
reader will perceive that Bishop Pearce understands this 
damnation, or judgment, or punishment, to mean the 
calamities to be endured by the Jews, ' when the Jew- 
ish state should be destroyed.' 

2. Theophylact. ' He does not command, or com- 
pel, them to destroy themselves, when he says, Jill ye 
up the measure of your fathers : his meaning is this : be- 
cause ye are serpents, and the offspring of such ances- 
tors, ye are also so obstinately infatuated that ye are 
incurable. It remains, that ye should so conduct as to 
excel your fathers in wickedness, and this will be the 
fact, when ye shall have slain me. Ye will then have 
attained the very summit of wickedness, when ye have 
completed the work of slaughter, left unfinished by your 
fathers. Since then ye will be so extremely wicked, how 
can ye escape punishment V Annot. in loc. 

This writer gives no hint that the punishment is to be 
inflicted after death. The most obvious sense of his 
language is, that the extreme wickedness of the Jewish 
nation would bring down upon it a tremendous judgment, 
and this we know took place about forty years after- 
wards, ( when,' in the language of Bishop Pearce, < the 
Jewish state was destroyed.' The period of this judg- 
ment was a time of tribulation, such as had never before 
been witnessed ; nothing of equal severity has been 
witnessed since. Famine and pestilence, and the sword, 
were united against the devoted Jews. Such was the 
straitness of the siege, that mothers fed on the flesh of 
their own children. The ancient prophets had foretold 
this period, under the emblem oi gehenna ; Jesus speaks 
of it under the same emblem. And when it is consid- 
ered what tremendous calamities came on that genera- 
tion, we may well understand why Jesus styles it the 
damnation of hell, or the punishment of gehenna. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 121 



SECTION XXXVIII. 



' O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest 
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy child- 
dren together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and 
yewoufdnot! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say 
unto vou, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he 
that cometh in the name of the Lord. 7 — Matt, xxiii. 37 — 39. 

The parallel place is Luke xiii. 34, 35. This pas- 
sage has most unaccountably been supposed to relate to a 
state of misery after death. But its application to tem- 
poral concerns is so very evident, that a large number 
of orthodox commentators have given it a right interpre- 
tation. 

1. Pearce. ' How often would I have gathered, $fc. 
i. e., how often have I attempted to make thy children 
my disciples. Your house is left ; i. e., will be left, when 
your city, temple, and state shall be destroyed. Till ye 
shall say ; i. e., till I come to destroy your city, &c, and 
then ye will say.' Com. in loc. 

2. Assembly's Annotations. ' Your house is left unto 
you desolate. Your city and temple shall be destroyed. 
God often and long offereth mercy, but at last (as Cardan 
saith out of Valer. Max.,) he recompenseththe slowness 
or delay of the punishment, with the grievousness there- 
of. See on Luke xiii. 35.' Annot. in loc. 

3. Whitby. ' These words, by the connexion of them 
with the former, thus, behold your house is left unto you 
desolate, for I say, fyc., seem manifestly to relate to the 
time of the destruction of the Jews, and to bear this 
sense : You who have now with so much indignation 
heard the children and people saluting me thus, Blessed 
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, after a while shall 
lie under so great calamities for the punishment of your 
infidelity, that you would be glad of a deliverer to whom 
you might say these words. This may also be gathered 
from the word op' arti, after a while ; for after Christ's 
ascension they saw him not, till he came to the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, which in the following chapter is so 

11 



122 SELECTIONS FROM 

often styled the time of the coming of the Son of man ; 
the time when op' arti, after a while, they should see the 
Son of man coming in the clouds, Matt. xxvi. (54.' Annot. 
in loc. 

4. Geneva Bible. ' Christ forewarneth them of the 
destruction of the temple, and of their whole policy. 5 
Note in Luke, xiii. 34, 35. 

5. Hammond. ; How many passionate invitations and 
calls have I given you to bring you to repentance, to per- 
suade you to be gathered under the wings of the divine 
presence, that is, to become proselytes to me, to be born 
again, and lead new lives, (see note on Luke xiii. 34,) 
but ye refused all ! Behold your desolation of temple, 
city, and whole nation is irreversibly at hand. And after 
I am once gone from you, ye shall see me no more, receive 
no more admonitions from me till I come to take ven- 
geance of you — at which time you shall be forced to con- 
fess me. And those that will not confess me now, would 
then be most glad (if it would be accepted,) to use that 
acclamation which the children did, when you were dis- 
pleased with them, (chap. xxi. 9,) to obtain any mercy 
from me.' Par. in loc, 

' Under her icings; — To gather under the wings seems 
to be a proverbial phrase among the Jews for gathering 
and admitting of proselytes ; thus, in Maimonides, speak- 
in of three ways of receiving proselytes, circumcision, 
baptism, sacrifice, he adds, and in like manner through all 
ages, as oft as a Gentile would enter into the covenant, and 
be gathered under the icings of the divine majesty, and take 
upon him the yoke of the laic, fyc, where the wings of the 
divine majesty, referring to the manner whereby God sig- 
nified his presence in the ark, and in the holy of holies, 
by the cherubims' wings that covered the propitiatory, the 
being gathered under his wings is there set for his enter- 
ing into the covenant, and attended with undertaking 
the yoke of the law, that is, obedience to his commands, 
and being his proselytes. And so here, Christ's gathering 
as a bird under the wings is the preaching of the new cov- 
enant to them, and calling them all, as proselytes, to re- 
ceive it.' Annot. in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 123 



SECTION XXXIX. 



•' And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved/ — Matt. 
xxiv. 12, 13. 

The parallel place is Mark xiii. 13. The same ex- 
pression is found Matt. x. 22, to the notes on which pas- 
sage the reader is referred for further remarks. 

1. Pearce. * Shall endure ; i. e., continue true be- 
lievers in me, called the elect, in ver. 23, 24. Shall be 
saved; i. e., from this calamity. See ver. 22, and chap, 
iii. 12, and x. 22, and Acts ii. 21, 

Josephus, Bell. Jud.iv. 8,2, says, that when Vespasian 
was drawing his forces towards Jerusalem, to besiege it, 
a great multitude of those who were at Jericho withdrew them- 
selves from thence into the mountainous country ; and in 
Bell. Jud. ii. 19, 6, and 20, 1, he tells us, that many fled 
out of Jerusalem, before the seige began. But Eusebius, 
in his Hist. Eccles. iii. 5, goes further, and informs us 
that the Christians of Jerusalem, being warned by a revela~ 
tion concerning the approaching war, departed from the 
city, and went to dwell in a town named Pella, on the other 
sicle of Jordan. 1 ' Com. and Note in loc. 

2. Kenrick. ' He that shall persevere in the profes- 
sion of Christianity, notwithstanding all the evils of per- 
secution, shall be saved from the calamities impending 
over the Jews. Christ here foretells the safety of Chris- 
tians at the destruction of Jerusalem.' Expos, in loc. 

3. Lardner. * In Mark xiii. are predictions concern- 
ing the destruction of the temple, and the desolations of 
the Jewish people. And particularly, at ver. 14 — 16, are 
remarkable expressions, intimating the near approach 
of those calamities, and suited to excite the attention of 
such as were in danger of being involved in them.' Hist. 
Apost. and Evang. chap. vii. 

4. Whitby. ' And ye shall be hated of all sorts of 
men for my name's sake, but yet possess your souls in 
patience, Luke xxi. 19 ; for they that shall endure to the 



124 SELECTIONS FROM 

end, the same shall be saved out of this calamity. But 
when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken 
of by Daniel the prophet, (chap. ix. 27,) standing where 
it ought not, i. e., the Roman army compassing Jerusa- 
lem, Luke xxi. 20, let him that readeth understand that 
her desolation draweth near ; and then let them that be 
in Judea flee into the mountains of Persea.' Par. in Mark 
xiii. 13, 14. 






SECTION XL. 



'Then shall two be in the field 5 the one shall be taken and the 
other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill 5 the one shall be 
taken, and the other left. Watch therefore ; for ye know not what hour 
your Lord doth come. 7 — Matt, xxiv. 40—42. 

The parallel place is Luke xvii. 34 — 36. Many have 
imagined that this passage is descriptive of a separation to 
take place at the day of judgment. But the writers 
quoted below agree in opinion, that Jesus had reference 
solely to circumstances of a temporal nature, and which 
\yere then near at hand. 

1. Pearce. ' This (ver. 40,) and the next verse mean, 
that in the day of Christ's coming to punish the Jews, 
a distinction will be made in favor of Christians. See 
ver. 13, 22, 31, and chap. iii. 12, and xiii. 30.' Com. in 
loc. 

2. Hammond. * Then shall there be many acts of 
God's providence discerned in rescuing one from that 
calamity wherein another is destroyed, especially that of 
departing out of Judea, ver. 16, which the believers gen- 
erally did, at Gallus' raising the siege, the rest staying 
behind, and so being destroyed. Two persons in the 
same field together, shall be thus discriminated in their 
fate : two women grinding together, or turning a hand- 
mill, one of them shall stay, and be destroyed, and the 
other that was in the same place and danger with her, 
shall, as by the angel that hurried Lot out of Sodom? or 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 125 

otherwise, by some invisible disposition of that Provi- 
dence which waits on his faithful servants, be rescued 
from that destruction, ver. 31.' Par. in loc. 

The same writer says on the parallel passage ; — 

' When you see this judgment breakout, let every man 
that is in Judea make all possible speed to get out of it, 
as Lot and his family did out of Sodom. And the least 
delay or stop in the course — all inclinations of kindness 
to the sins or company of that place, may be as fatal to 
any as it was to Lot's wife, who, looking back, became 
a pillar of salt. He that shall take any unchristian 
course of compliance, (as the Gnostic christians did 
afterwards with the Jews.to escape their persecutions,) he 
undoubtedly shall perish in it; and he that, being a dis- 
ciple of mine, shall, for the testimony of my truth, cheer- 
fully and courageously venture death, is the only person 
that shall escape this judgment. Then shall it not be in 
the power of any w 7 orldly providence to work any deliv- 
erance for any, but as in Sodom an angel came and took 
Lot by the hand, and led him out, preserved him, when 
many others were left behind, so shall it be now; those 
whom God will thus please to seal and preserve, the be- 
lievers and constant professors, those shall be delivered, 
and none else.' Par. in LuJce xvii. 31 — 36. 

3. Whitby. ' This, by Dr. Hammond, seems to be 
well referred to the especial providence of God, discern- 
able in those times, in rescuing some, who seemed equally 
exposed to danger, from the destruction which shall fall on 
others ; for that it relates not to the final judgment, but to 
the time of the destruction of the Jews by the Roman army, 
is evident from the same words recorded by St. Luke, chap, 
xvii. 35, 36. For there, the disciples ask their Lord, 
w T here shall this be 1 and Christ answers, ver. 37, that 
wliere the carcase (i. e., the Jews,) are, there will the eagles 
(i. e., the Roman army, whose ensign was the eagle,) be 
gathered together. And hence it is also evident, that the 
following words being connected to these by the copula- 
tive oun, thus, watch therefore, must refer to the same sub- 
ject.' Annot. in loc. 

4. Clarke. * The meaning seems to be, that so gen- 

ii* 



126 SELECTIONS FROM 

era! should these calamities be, that no two persons , where- 
soever found, or about whatsoever employed, should be 
both able to effect their escape ; and that captivity and the 
sword should have a complete triumph over this unhap- 
py people.' Com. in loc. 

5. Kenrick. ' In these two verses, our Lord declares 
that the condition of persons who appeared to be exactly 
alike, who were in the same place, and engaged in the 
same employment, shall, in consequence of the disposals 
of Providence, or the effects of forewarnings, be very 
different ; for that one shall be destroyed, while the 
other is left. The unbelieving Jew shall be destroyed 
with his unbelieving countrymen, but the Christian, 
although placed in the same situation with the other, shall 
be preserved. Since no conclusion, then, could be drawn 
from external appearances, there was the more ground 
for watchfulness.' Expos, in lor. 



SECTION XLI. 

• Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler 
over his household, to give them meat in due season ? Blessed is that ser- 
vant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily, I say 
unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that 
evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming ; And shall 
begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken ; 
The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he lookethnot for him, 
and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and 
appoint him his portion with hypocrites : there shall be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth.'— Matt. xxiv. 45 — 51. 

The parallel place is Luke xii. 42 — 46. This pas- 
sage has often been quoted in proof of punishment 
after death, chiefly, I believe, because it contains the 
phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth. For some 
reason, utterly unaccountable in my mind, this phrase 
has been supposed much more appropriate to the next 
life than to this. It truly appears as easy, so far as I can 
see, for a man to weep and gnash his teeth, while in the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 127 

fleshly body, as when clothed with a spiritual body. 
There is sufficient orthodox authority, at all events, for 
interpreting this passage to relate to the present life. 

Pearce. ' All which follows to the end of the chapter, 
contains a warning to the disciples, and to all other be- 
lievers of those days, that they should be found sincere 
ones ; otherwise they would be punished in the time of 
the Jewish destruction.' Com. in Matt. xxiv. 42. 

2. Whitby. • Who therefore is that faithful and wise 
servant, fyc. y i. e., the servant who continues constant in 
the service of his Lord, under all the persecutions and 
abounding iniquities of those times, he shall make him ruler 
over all his goods; i. e., shall greatly reward his faithful- 
ness, as this phrase signifies, chap. xxv. 21, 23; for that 
this phrase cannot import his advancement to the highest 
dignities in the church, is evident from this, that then all 
that continued faithful to Christ, in those times of trial, 
must have been made Bishops. The evil servant here men- 
tioned seems to be the apostatizing Jew, who, having de- 
serted the faith himself, was instrumental to smite his fel- 
low-servants, and to betray them to the enemies of Chris- 
tianity, as our Lord foretold it would be, Matt. x. 21, xxiv. 
10. And that which induced them thus to apostatize, was 
this very imagination, that our Lord delayed his coming, 
to deliver them, and execute the judgments here fore- 
told, 2 Pet. iii. 4 ; whence the apostles encourage them 
to perseverance, by saying, It is but yet a little while, and 
he that cometh will come, and will not tarry, Heb. x. 27, and 
that the Judge stands at the door, Jas. v. 9, and the coming 
of the Lord draweth nigh, ver. 8. 

And shall cut him asunder : This was the punishment 
inflicted by Samuel on Agag, the enemy of God's people, 
1 Sam. xv. 33, and by David on the Ammonites, 2 Sam. 
xii. 31, and by Trajan, the Roman Emperor, on the re- 
bellious Jews. It was by Nebuchadnezzar threatened to 
the blasphemers of the true God, Dan. iii. 29, and by 
young Daniel, to the false accusers of Susanna, ver. 55, 
59. It was used of old, to those who were false to their 
creditors, saith Tertullian ; to rebels, and betrayers of 
Iheir country, and that not only in the east, but among 
the Romans, as we learn from Suetonius, in the life of 



123 SELECTIONS FROM 

Cams : from Horace, and from Dio ; and by the Greeks, 
as we learn from Homer, from Sophocles, and fromAris- 
tophanes ; and in Egypt, as we learn from Herodotus. 
And therefore this punishment, saith Christ, will I in- 
flict on those who are perfidious in their covenant of bap- 
tism, and enemies to my government.' Annot. in loc. 

3. Hammond. 'Whosoever of you, then, shall be 
entrusted by God in any office of trust or stewardship, 
especially in that of getting believers to Christ, and shall 
discharge that trust faithfully, and discreetly, do that 
which is his duty in times of trial and persecution, (ver. 
11. 12.) thrice happy shall he be. if. when his master 
comes to visit, he continues to be thus employed, and so 
be found about the duties of his trust, constant and per- 
severing, (ver. 13,) his Lord shall enlarge his trust, and 
make him steward of all. and not only of his household : 
either preserve him to be a governor in his church, after 
these sad times are over, or otherwise reward him as he 
seeth best. But if that servant shall prove dishonest, and 
say or think, that Christ means not to come and visit, as 
he said he would, (2 Pet. iii, 4.) and thereupon join in the 
persecuting of his brethren, (as the Gnostics did with the 
Jews against the Christians.) and indulge himself pre- 
sumptuously to licentious living, (see 2 Fet. iii. 3, Jude 
IS.) the time of visitation shall come on him, when it is 
least looked for — when he is in the worst posture to be 
surprised, and shall deal with him as a false debtor, or 
deceitful steward — hew him asunder, and assign him the 
same lot which befals the unbelieving Jews, (Luke xii. 
46) ; bring the same destruction on the Gnostic Chris- 
tians, and the Jews together, and that shall be an irre- 
versible, and a most miserable destruction.' Par. in 
loc. 

4. Kenrick. This whole passage is interpreted by 
Kenrick as having relation to the different fate of faith- 
ful and unfaithful servants, at "'the period of the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, when Christ virtually, though not per- 
sonally, returned.' On the phrase weeping and gnashing 
of teeth, he has the following remarks : — 

4 There he shall experience the greatest anguish, such 
as is usually expressed by the signs here mentioned. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 1*29 

The wicked steward, imagining that his master, who had 
left him at home with the care of his servants, would 
never return, began to behave in a riotous, tyrannical 
manner, wasting the provisions committed to his care in 
gluttony and drunkenness, and beating his fellow-ser- 
vants; bat his master coming home, when he least ex- 
pected his return, degrades him from his office, and 
inflicts upon him the severest punishment, such as is 
usually inflicted upon those servants who are no longer 
faithful and sober than when they are under their mas- 
ter's eye. 

By this parable, our Lord would represent to his dis- 
ciples, what they had to expect, if, possessing the Chris- 
tian religion, and performing the duties of it during his 
presence with them, they should afterwards, during his 
absence, abandon themselves to the indulgence of their 
passions, and throw off all restraint, upon a presumption 
that he would never return, to inflict those punishments 
on the Jews,, which he had threatened. They would be 
punished like a wicked steward, i. e., be involved in the 
same calamities with the unbelieving Jews.' Exjjos. in 

loc: 



SECTIOX XLII. 



• Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which 
took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And rive of 
them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their 
lamps, and took no oil with them : But the wise took oil in their vessels 
with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and 
slept. And at midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom 
cometh : go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and 
trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise. Give us of your 
oil : for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying. Not so ; 
:-re be not enough for us and you : but go ye rather to them that 
sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy. the bridegroom 
came : and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage : and 
the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying. Lord. 
Lord, open to us. But he answered and said. Verily. I say unto you. I 
know you not. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the 
hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Matt. xxv. 1—13. 

This chapter contains three parables, of which the 



130 SELECTIONS FROM 

passage quoted is the first. Some are of opinion that 
the whole chapter relates to the day of judgment in the 
world to come ; others, that a part only relates to that 
day, and the remainder to the subject embraced in the 
preceding chapter ; others, among whom are Univer- 
salists, that the whole of both chapters is to be under- 
stood as descriptive of events then near at hand, of 
which the destruction of Jerusalem, and the calamities 
attending it, form a very conspicuous part. I shall first 
offer a few quotations on different parts of this chapter, 
as on the foregoing, and then mention some circumstan- 
ces equally applicable to both, and the opinions enter- 
tained in relation to them. 

1. Pearce. Ver. 1. ' Then, i. e., at that time, and 
under those circumstances. This shows, that Jesus, in 
thisxhapter, is speaking on the same subject as in the 
foregoing one, viz., what was to happen at the destruction 
of the Jewish state. See Com. on ver. 13.' 

Ver. 13. 4 Rather, wherein the Son of man is to come. 
This plainly shows, that what was said before in this 
chapter relates to the destruction of the Jewish state, 
expressed by the Son of man's coming, as in chap. xvi. 27, 
28.' Com. in Joe. 

2. Hammond. In his paraphrase on the first verse of 
this parable, Dr. Hammond writes thus : — ' At that point 
of time last spoken of, the heavy visitation on this people, 
the condition of Christians will be fitly resembled by this 
parable of ten virgins, which took hand-lamps,' &c. 

He then goes on to explain the several terms used in 
the parable ; and when he comes to the thirteenth verse, 
instead of giving a paraphrase, he refers to chap. xxiv. 
36, — f But of that day and hour knoweth no man,' &c, 
of which he gives the following paraphrase : — 

'But of the point of time when this judgment shall 
come, (see note on Heb. x. 25, and 2 Pet. iii. 10,) none 
but God the Father knows, and that must oblige you to 
vigilancy, and may sustain you in your trials, (when you 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 131 

begin to faint by reason of persecutions from the Jews, 
ver. 12, which this is to set a period to,) by remembering 
that how far off soever your deliverance seems to be, it 
may and will come in a moment unexpectedly.' Par. in 
Matt, xxiv. 36. 

There are several other writers who were anxious to 
apply this whole chapter to the day of judgment, but 
yet were constrained to acknowledge the former part of 
it, at least, to be equally applicable to the time when 
God executed vengeance on the Jewish nation for their 
sins. 

3. Clarke. ( Then shall the kingdom of heaven : The 
state of the Jews and professing Christians, or the state 
of the visible church at the time of the destruction of 
Jerusalem, and in the day of judgment ; for the parable 
appears to relate to both these periods.' Com. in he. 

4. Beausobre and Lenfant. ' This may be under- 
stood concerning the judgment which Christ would exe- 
cute upon the Jewish nation, the hour of death, and the 
day of final judgment.' Note in ver. 13. 

5. Rosenmuller. 'It may be inquired whether this 
is spoken concerning the coming of Christ at the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, or that at the last judgment. In 
my opinion, all which is said from chap. xxiv. 42, to 
chap xxv. 30, may be referred to either of these periods.' 
Scholia in loc. 

6. Kenrick. This author, however much he might 
have doubted the endless continuance of misery, yet 
firmly believed that men should be punished in the next 
life for the sins committed in this. And, in conformity 
with this opinion, he interprets the closing section of this 
chapter, with reference to a future retribution. As he 
believed in a state of torment after death, I feel justified 
in quoting him as orthodox authority ; for, so far as the 
question at issue in my present work is concerned, he is 
orthodox to all practical purposes. But firmly as he 
believed in a judgment and misery after death, he could 
find no evidence of that doctrine in this parable ; and 



132 SELECTIONS FROM 

he has accordingly given it the same application which 
Bishop Pearce and others had given before him. His 
remarks follow: — 

Ver. 1, ' The word, then, with which this parable 
begins, shows that our Lord is still speaking upon the 
same subject about which he had been discoursing in 
the last chapter, namely, the period of the destruction of 
Jerusalem ; and his design is to show, by the conduct and 
treatment of the ten virgins, the situation of good and 
bad Christians at that time.' 

Ver. 13, ' These last words, as well as what the par- 
able begins with, show that it refers to the coming of 
Christ, for the destruction of Jerusalem, and not to 
his coming at the general judgment ; for he concludes 
with the same exhortation which he had subjoined to 
the account which he gave in the former chapter, of 
the signs of his coming in that event ; his language there 
was, ver. 42, "watch therefore, for ye know not what 
hour your Lord doth come." The intention of the parable 
is to enforce the necessity of watchfulness, by showing 
the distinction which will be made in that day, between 
those by whom it was practised, and those by w 7 hom it 
was neglected. The wise virgins, who carried oil in their 
vessels as well as in their lamps, who were prepared for 
the bridegroom when he came, and were admitted with 
him to the marriage-feast, are sincere Christians, who, by 
the constant practice of the duties of piety and virtue, 
would secure his favor, and, being always prepared for 
his coming, would escape the judgments that were coming 
upon the Jewish nation. The foolish virgins, who took 
no oil in their vessels, whose lamps were going out at the 
time when the bridegroom appeared, and were obliged to 
go to buy more ; who could not, fronvthis delay, attend 
the bridegroom, and were therefore excluded from the 
marriage-feast, are those who profess themselves Chris- 
tians, but want those substantial virtues which are ne- 
cessary to recommend them to the favor of Christ ; and 
when he came, would be disowned and rejected by him, 
and suffered to perish with others.' Expos, in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 133 



SECTION XLIII. 



c For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling; into a far country, 
Who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And 
unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one 3 to 
every man according to his several ability ; and straightway took his 
journey. Then he that had received the five talents, went and traded 
with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that 
had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received 
one, went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a 
long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. 
And so he that had received five talents, came and brought other five 
talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents : behold, I 
have gained besides them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant j thou hast been faithful over a few 
things, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy 
of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came, and said, Lord, 
thou deliveredst unto me two talents : behold, I have gained two other 
talents besides them. His lord said unto him. Well done, good and faith- 
ful servant 3 thou hast been faithful over a few things 3 1 will make thee ruler 
over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had 
received the one talent came, and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a 
hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown,and gathering where thou hast 
not strewed : And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth : lo, 
there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou 
wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, 
and gather where I have not strewed : Thou oughtest therefore to have put 
my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received 
mine own with, usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it 
unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be 
given, and he shall have abundance : but from him that hath not, shall be 
taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable ser- 
vant into utter darkness : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 7 — 
Matt. xxv. 14 — 30. 

The passage generally considered parallel, is Luke 
xix. 11 — 27. As we approach the end of this chap- 
ter, we find the commentators looking earnestly for 
proofs of the general judgment. But a larger number 
of them seem to have had the right view of this parable, 
than of the preceding. Pearce, Whitby, Clarke and 
others, consider the passage in Luke referred to, as 
parallel with this. 

1. Pearce. 'The moral of this parable is, that Jesus 

would reward or punish Christians according to their 

behavior under the means of grace afforded to them : 

and that from every one would be required in proportion 

12 



134 SELECTIONS FROM 

to what had been given to him. And this distinction, 
made between them, was to be made at the time when 
the Jewish state was to be destroyed.' Com. in loc. 

The same writer says, * In the following parable there 
are two distinct morals, intended by it in these two 
points of light, the behavior of the citizens to the noble- 
man, and the behavior of his own servants to him : by 
the behavior of the citizens, and their punishment, (ver. 
14, 27,) we are taught, that the Jews, who were the 
people of Jesus, would reject him, and try to prevent 
him from reigning over them, in his spiritual kingdom, 
and would for that crime be severally punished by the 
destruction of their state. And this moral is all which 
here answers to the introductory words (ver. 11,) because 
they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately 
appear. But then there is another moral in this parable, 
which extends itself through the whole of it, viz., that, 
among the disciples of Jesus, who are his servants, such 
as made a good use of the favors vouchsafed to them by 
the gospel, should be distinguished and rewarded for it 
in proportion to the improvement which they made un- 
der the means of grace. This latter moral is all that 
is intended in the parable, as set forth by Matt. ch. xxv. 
14, &c, who mentions it as spoken by Jesus, after his 
triumphant entry into Jerusalem, though Luke has here 
placed that event after the parables.' Com. in Luke 
xix. 12. 

2. Whitby. 4 Of this parable, as it respects the mas- 
ter travelling into a far country, and the servants to 
whom the talents were delivered, see note on Luke xix. 
22, where it is also proved that it relates to the Jewish 
nation, and therefore is here mentioned after Christ's 
prediction of the dreadful judgments which should befal 
that nation, for murdering their Messiah, and not im- 
proving the day of their visitation.' Annot. in loc. 

The same author says further, ' The parable here, as 
it respects our Lord Christ going into a far country to 
receive a kingdom, and return again, either respects his 
going to heaven to sit down at the right hand of God in 
majesty and glory, and so take possession of his media- 
tory kingdom, and the return to punish the unbelieving 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 135 

and obdurate Jews ; or going by his apostles and disci- 
ples to erect a kingdom among the Gentiles, and then 
coming, as it were, back to punish the Jews, according to 
these words of his, the gospel of the kingdom shall be 
preached throughout the ivorld for a testimony to all na- 
tions, and then shall the end (of the Jewish polity) come. 
Matt. xxiv. 14. 

' This parable doth certainly respect the Jewish nation, 
as appears, (1,) Because they are here said to reject 
Christ's kingdom, saying, we will not have this man to 
reign over us; and upon this account are styled his 
enemies, and devoted to destruction by him, which 
agrees still only to the Jews, ver. 27. (2,) To them is 
threatened the punishment of the unprofitable servants, 
to wit, to be cast out into utter darkness, &c, Matt. viii. 
12, xxii. 13, Luke xiii. 28, Matt. xxv. 30. In fine, it is 
expressly said, he therefore spake this parable to them, 
because they thought the kingdom of God shoidd immedi- 
ately appear, ver. 11, and 12.' Annot. in Luke, xix. 12. 

3. Hammond. The whole passage in Luke is ex- 
plained by Dr. Hammond to relate to the conduct and 
destruction of the unbelieving and obdurate Jews. He 
gives the following paraphrase of the concluding verse : — 

1 But those countrymen of his, (whose king by right 
he was,) who, when he was gone to be installed in the 
kingdom, sent him that contumacious answer, ver. 14, 
(noting the Jews that would not submit to him upon the 
apostles preaching the gospel after the resurrection,) 
being now installed in his throne, he presently comman- 
ded to be put to the sword — executed as so many rebels — 
the fate that soon befel the Jews, after his inauguration 
in his kingdom, that is, his going to heaven.' Par. in 
Luke, xix. 27. 

4. Clarke. On ver. 31, of this chapter, Dr. Clarke 
says, that < all the preceding part of the chapter may be 
applied to the destruction of Jerusalem.' Com. in loc. 

The passage in Luke, he refers to, as parallel with 
that in Matt. ; but in his exposition he interprets it, not 
partly, but wholly, in relation to the conduct and des- 
truction of the Jews, On ver. 12, he quotes, with 



136 SELECTIONS FROM 

approbation, the note of Bishop Pearce. which I have 
already quoted. And on the concluding verse he writes 

thus : — 

' Those — enemies — bring hither ; the Jews, whom I 
shall shortly slay by the sword of the Romans.' Com. 
in Luke xix. 11 — 27, 

5. Kenrick. * This is intended to represent Christ's 
coming for the destruction of the Jewish state, which 
was a day of reckoning to Christians as well as to the 
Jews ; those of them who were sincere and diligent, 
being preserved from the calamities of that people : but 
those who were only nominal Christians, and negligent 
of their work, being punished together with them. In 
this parable it is said, that the master was a long time 
before he came to reckon with his servants, which cor- 
responds very well with the representations given of this 
event in the preceding parables, which have already 
been shown to be applicable to the destruction of Jeru- 
salem ; for in one of them, 3Jatt. xxiv. 4S, the master is 
represented as delaying his coming : and in the other, 
the bridegroom as tarrying, till ail the virgins slumbered 
and slept.' Expos, in he. 

The same author says, — ' This verse contains the doom 
of the Jews, who were condemned to destruction, for 
refusing to submit to the authority of Christ. Expos, in 
Luke xix. 27. 

6. Lightfoot. 'This parable of the pounds hath, for 
the general, the very same scope with that of the tedtnts, 
Matt. xxv. That nobleman or king, that went into a 
far country to receive for himself a kingdom, is Christ 
in his gospel, going forth to call in the Gentiles to his 
obedience: returning, he cuts off the nation of the Jews, 
that would not have him to reign over them, ver. 27; 
and while they were now in expectation of the immediate 
revelation of the kingdom of heaven, and were dreaming 
many vain and senseless things concerning it, our Sa- 
viour, by this parable, warns and admonisheth them, 
that he must not look for any advantage by that king- 
dom, who cannot give a good account of those talents 
which God had committed to his trust and improvement.' 
Heb. and Tedm. Ex ere. in Luke xix. 13. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 137 



SECTION XLIV, 



f man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels 
with him. then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory : And before him 
shall be gathered all nations : and he shall separate them one from another, 
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : And he shall set the sheep 
on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say 
unto them on his right hand. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : For I was 
a hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : 

ind ye took me in : Naked, and ye clothed me : 
sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then 
shall the righteous answer him. saying. Lord, when saw we thee a hun- 
gered, and led thee ? or thirsty, and gave thee drink. 7 When saw we 
thee a stranger, and took thee in ! or naked, and clothed thee ? Or when 

01 in prison, and came unto thee ? And the King shall 
answer and say unto them. Verily. I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have 
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done" it unto 
me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand. Depart from me, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels : 
F:r I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye 
gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and 
ye clothed me not : sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then 
shall thev also answer h:_. . saying, Loid ; when saw ~ r e thee a hungered, 
or athirst. or a stanger. or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minis- 
ter unto thee I Then shall he answer them, saying. Verily, I say unto 
you. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did "it not 
to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment : but the 
righteous into life eternal. Matt, xxv 31. — 16, 

This passage is quoted, perhaps, as frequently as any 
other, and with as much confidence, in proof of the 
doctrine of endless misery. I need not state the views 
of Universalists in relation to it. as they are doubtless 
familiar to all my readers. This ground has been gone 
over so frequently, and so thoroughly, that the way is 
perfectly plain. But although a vast majority of ortho- 
dox commentators apply this passage to the general 
ment, yet there are a -'few names/* who seem to 
have had a right view of it. The first I shall quote is 
not so directly in point as the other two : yet. as he 
appears to have had a glimmering of light. I insert his 
remarks. 

1. Hammond. On this passage. Dr. Hammond 



138 SELECTIONS FROM 

manifests some confusion of mind. It would seem that, 
like most commentators of his creed, he felt perfectly 
confident that the doctrine of a future judgment and end- 
less misery is taught in the closing part of this chapter, 
and was at the same time constrained to admit that the 
xxiv. chapter, and a large portion of this xxv., related to 
the calamities about to come on the Jewish nation. But 
where the one subject ends, and the other commences, 
he seems to have been wholly at a loss to decide. 
It will be recollected, that he applies ver. 1 — 13, of this 
chapter, to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem. 
When he comes to ver. 31, (the beginning of the para- 
ble of the sheep and goats,) he writes thus, in his para- 
phrase : — 

'All this parable (i. e., of the talents,) from ver. 13, to 
this place being put as in a parenthesis, Christ here pro- 
ceeds. But when Christ comes to judgment, whether to 
execute vengeance on this people, or (of which that is an 
emblem,) to doom every man for his future eternal being, 
then shall his appearance be glorious and full of majesty.' 
Par. in loc. 

Having thus used this verse as a kind of connecting 
link, or rather a stepping-stone, having relation both to 
the destruction of Jerusalem and the general judgment, 
and by which he might comfortably pass from one to the 
other, he applies the remainder of the parable, without 
hesitation, to the general judgment. 

2. Pearce. Ver. 31, Shall come in his glory ; i. e., to 
destroy the Jewish state. See chap. xvi. 27, 28, and xxiv. 
30, and xxvi. 64. Jesus is still giving an account of what 
distinction will then be made between good and bad chris- 
tians.' 

Ver. 34, ' Then shall the King ; the Son of man, then 
in his kingdom, chap. xvi. 28. ' Come ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom ; i. e., enjoy all the privileges 
and benefits of the gospel, which God ordained from the 
beginning of the world, that it should take place in the 
proper season, See 1 Pet. i. 20, and Rev. xiii. 8.' Com. 
in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 139 

Thus Bishop Pearce applies this parable, giving no 
intimation that it has any other allusion, until he comes 
to ver. 41, on which he has simply this remark : — ' Here, 
and in ver. 46, Jesus seems at length to have had the 
day of general judgment in his thoughts.' What in- 
duced him to suppose this to be the fact, he has not in- 
formed us. Let it be recollected, that he declares the 
time mentioned in the parable to be when Jesus came 
to destroy the Jeivish state, and the reward then render- 
ed to the righteous, he explains to be the temporal 
privileges and benefits of the gospel. (See his remarks 
on ver. 34). Under these circumstances, to preserve 
consistency, he must have supposed the punishment of 
the wicked (rendered at the same time,) to indicate the 
misery and destruction which fell on the unbelieving 
Jews, and wicked or apostate christians, when the Jew- 
ish state w T as destroyed by the Romans. And, in fact, 
this he tacitly admits to be the primary meaning of the 
parable. He does not say that Jesus intended to de- 
scribe the misery of men in a future life, but merely that 
he c seems to have had the day of general judgment in 
his thoughts.' 

3. Cappe. Rev. Newcome Cappe appears from 
his writings to have been a firm believer in a state of 
retribution after death ; of course, he was so far ortho- 
dox, as to be entitled to be heard on this question. Yet, 
confidently as he believed in a state of misery after 
death for the wicked, he found no proof of such a state 
in this parable. On the contrary, he interprets this, as 
he does the former part of the chapter, to relate to the 
desolation of Judea, and the circumstances attending 
that desolation. See his Critical Remarks, vol. i. p. 
149. His comment on ver. 34 is almost precisely sim- 
ilar to that of Bishop Pearce, before quoted : — 

' Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
pared for you from the foundation of the world. Being 
now delivered from your persecutors, ye shall receive 



140 SELECTIONS FROM 

the recompense of the kind reception you have given 
to the propagators of my doctrine, and shall enjoy, 
without disturbance, in security and comfort, all the 
blessings of the gospel kingdom, which, as it appears 
from tbe prophecies of the ancient dispensation, were 
from the foundation of the world, destined for such 
characters as yours.' Crit. Rem. i. 177. 

Before dismissing this portion of scripture, it seems 
proper to state a few circumstances in relation to it, 
which are perhaps not perfectly well known to the ma- 
jority of my readers. Most of the commentators, as I 
have already said, are confident that the latter part of 
chap. xxv. relates to the general judgment. They all 
allow that the former part of chap. xxiv. relates to 
the destruction of Jerusalem, and the circumstances at- 
tending it. They also allow that the two chapters em- 
brace a single connected discourse ; that this discourse 
was delivered at one time and without interruption. 
Entertaining these views, it was necessary for them to fix 
on the place where Jesus changed the subject of dis- 
course — where he ceased to speak of the destruction of 
Jerusalem, and commenced speaking of the day of judg- 
ment. That there is such a place, they are very con- 
fident ; but ivhere it is, they are by no means agreed. 
While examining a variety of authors, in the prepara- 
tion of this work, I noted down, as a matter of curiosity, 
several of the places which different writers have as- 
signed as the precise point where Jesus changed his 
subject, and commenced describing an event which 
should not occur for two thousand, and I know not how 
many more, years after the events, concerning which 
he was before speaking. I am by no means certain 
that I have noticed all the places ; but such as I have, 
are submitted to the reader. Where two or more wri- 
ters have fixed on the same point of division, one only 
is named. 

Guyse, Poole's Continuators, Wynne, and others, ap- 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 141 

ply the whole of chap. xxiv. and xxv. both to the des- 
truction of Jerusalem, and the day of general judgment, 
saying it is difficult to separate what is said in relation 
to the one subject from what is said in relation to the 
other : Dr. S. Clarke gives this double application as 
far as chap. xxv. 13, and applies the remainder of chap, 
xxv. exclusively to the day of judgment : Trapp fixes 
on chap. xxiv. 23, as the point where Jesus commenced 
speaking of the general judgment : the authors of the 
Dutch Annotations, on xxiv. 29 : Heylin, on xxiv. 36 : 
Macknight, on xxiv. 44 : Dr. A. Clarke, on xxv. 1 ; 
though, when he comes to verse 31, he admits that the 
preceding part may refer to the destruction of Jerusalem ; 
the remainder he imagines must apply to the gen- 
eral judgment : Bishop Porteus fixes on xxv. 31 : Dr. 
Hammond gives a double application to this verse, and 
applies all which follows to the general judgment : 
while Bishop Pearce admits that Jesus continued to 
speak of the destruction of Jerusalem as far as ver. 41 ; 
but there he imagines he ' had the day of general judg- 
ment in his thoughts/ 

One would suppose, that if this discourse of Jesus 
embraced two periods, between which was an interval 
of two thousand years or more, there would be something 
in his language, by which it might easily be determined 
where he passed from one period to the other. But 
orthodox critics seem to be in utter confusion on this 
point. If they cannot agree where this transition is, are 
we not justified in the belief that no transition is made, 
but that the the whole is to be interpreted in reference 
to the same period ? 

I cannot better close my remarks on this subject, than 
by introducing the following extract from a work entitled 
' The Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures asserted/ 
&c, by Rev. S. Noble. 

* It is related, in the first verse, that (i Jesus went out, 
and departed from the temple : and his disciples came to 



142 SELECTIONS FROM 

him to show him the buildings of the temple ;" and it is 
added, in the second verse, that " Jesus said unto them, 
See ye not all these things 1 verily I say unto you, There 
shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall 
not be thrown down." First, then, let it be admitted, 
that these words apply, in their immediate reference, to 
the temple at Jerusalem and its destruction, which, as is 
known from the history of Josephus, was as total as is 
here implied. Let also the detailed prediction that fol- 
lows, through the whole of this and the next chapters, 
be understood of the events connected with the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem and its temple, as far as they can pos- 
sibly be adapted to those occurrences. It is allowed, 
however, on all hands,* that the whole cannot be so 
adapted : let then the place be pointed out where the 
new subject commences. But let this be done in such a 
manner as to be consistent with the fact, that a space of 
not much less than two thousand years, at least, was to 
intervene, between the accomplishment of the latter part 
of the prophecy and that of the former : for the first part 
of it is considered to have been fully accomplished about 
A. D. 70, and the remainder not to be accomplished yet : 
it is also to be recollected, that no events belonging to 
this intervening period are supposed to be treated of in 
the prophecy, out that, in whatever place the transition 
is made, it skips at once from the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem to the end of the world. Of course, with these pre- 
mises assumed, every reader will expect to perceive some 
well-defined mark of so great an hiatus. How will this 
expectation be answered 1 So far from discovering any 
thing like it, no person can read the two chapters, and 
draw his inference from their contents alone, without 
concluding, that the events announced are to follow each 
other in succession, unbroken by any wide interruption 
whatever. Accordingly, though commentators are now 
generally agreed that the hiatus must exist, they are by 
no means unanimous in fixing its situation. 

As before observed, the circumstances foretold, as far 
as the twenty-eighth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter, 

* i. e., by orthodox commentators, p. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 143 

may, by having recourse, here and there, to figure^ be 
applied to the calamities which befel the Jewish nation : 
what follows, respecting the coming of the Son of man 
in the clouds of heaven, and his sending his angels with 
a great sound of a trumpet to gather together his elect 
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, 
does not, with equal convenience, admit this application : 
wherefore many eminent writers consider the prophecies 
relating to the Jews to terminate with the twenty-eighth 
verse, and all that follows to belong to the greater events 
commonly designated as the second coming of the Lord, 
and the general judgment on the world. L T nfortunately, 
however, let both parts of the chapter denote what they 
may, they are connected together by the binding word 
' immediately :' — " Immediately after the tribulation of 
those days, shall the sun be darkened," &c, "and then 
sliall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." 
Extreme violence, therefore, is done to the words, by 
those who thrust in, between the tribulation previously 
described, and this immediate appearing of the Son of 
man, an interval of two thousand years ! On this account, 
other eminent writers understand the appearing of the 
Son of man, and all the rest of the chapter, to be merely 
added in amplification of the previous subject ; affirming 
however, that " Jesus Christ intended that his disciples 
should consider the judgment he was going to inflict on 
the Jewish nation, as a forerunner and emblem of that 
universal judgment he is to exercise at the last day ; 
wherefore, they add, " he gives in the twenty-fifth chap- 
ter a description of the last judgment :" * for which rea- 
sons, they place the grand hiatus between the two chap- 
ters. But, unhappily, a particle, the nature of which is 
to draw things into such close connexion as admits of 
nothing being interposed between them, here also occurs. 
The divine prophet concludes the twenty-fourth chapter 
with describing the reward which the faithful servant, 
and the punishment which the unfaithful shall receive at 
his coming : and he commences the twenty-fifth chapter 
thus : " Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened 

* Beausobre and L'Enfant's Note on Matt. xxv. 1. 



144 SELECTIONS FROM 

unto ten virgins." "Who cannot see that the parable of 
the ten virgins, " five of whom were wise, and five were 
foolish," is a continuation and further illustration of the 
subject introduced by the parable of the faithful and 
wicked servant — that both relate to the same series of 
events, and leave no room for supposing an interval of 
two thousand years between the one and the other I And 
even if the subjects were not so obviously connected, 
what propriety would there be in passing from one event 
to another so distant, by such a copulative as then — a 
word that always denotes either identity of time, or im- 
mediate succession ? 

1 A third modification of the same general plan of in- 
terpretation has therefore been proposed by Dr. Dod- 
dridge. He adheres to the system of the hiatus, but he 
seems to have felt more strongly than some, the difficulties 
with which it is attended : wherefore, in hopes to avoid 
them, he steers a middle course between the two theories 
already noticed. Let us see, then, what degree of pro- 
bability he has been able to give to the scheme. 

8 He paraphrases the twenty-ninth and thirtieth verses 
thus: "Immediately after the affliction of those days which 
I have been describing, the sun shall, as it were, be dark- 
ened, and the moon shall not seem to give her usual light ; 
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the 
heavens, all the mighty machines and strong movements 
above, shall be shaken and broken to pieces ; that is, ac- 
cording to the sublimity of that prophetic language to 
which you have been accustomed, the whole civil and 
ecclesiastical constitution of the nation shall not only be 
shocked, but totally dissolved. And then shcdl there evi- 
dently appear such a remarkable hand of providence in 
avenging my quarrel upon this sinful people, that it shall 
be like the sign of the Son of man in heaven at the last 
day ; and all the tribes of the land shall then mourn, and 
they shcdl see the Son of man coming, as it were, in tlie 
clouds of heaven, with power and great glory; for that 
celestial army which shall appear in the air, marshalled 
round the city, shall be a sure token to them that the 
angels of God, and the great Lord of those heavenly 
hosts, are set as it were in array against them." Upon 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 145 

this paraphrase I shall only observe, that if the fiery ap- 
pearances in the sky mentioned by Josephus, and which 
seem to have been similar to those observed during the 
civil wars in England, and at various other places and 
times, are really alluded to in the prophecy, it must be 
in the former part of it. Where Matthew merely says, 
that there should be " famines, and pestilences, and earth- 
quakes, in divers places," * Luke amplifies thus : " And 
great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, 
and pestilences ; and fearful sights and great ivonders shall 
there be from heaven "f This will agree with Josephus ; 
for that historian describes the celestial phenomena as 
having been seen before the siege and capture of Jerusa- 
lem, and as portending those events ; f wherefore it is 
violating the facts, to represent these as being what are 
foretold as the appearing of the Son of man, and his 
coming in the clouds of heaven, " after the tribulation 
of those days, " beside being a mean application of a 
most majestic prediction. However, we have only intro- 
duced this popular writer's paraphrase, for the sake of 
his note upon it. On the words, Immediately after the 
tribulation of those days, he remarks thus: "Archbishop 
Tillotson, and Brennius, with many other learned inter- 
preters, imagine, that our Lord here makes the transition 
from the destruction of Jerusalem, which had been the 
subject of his discourse thus far, to the general judgment ; 
but I think, as it would be very harsh to suppose all the 
sufferings of the Jewish nation, in all ages, to be called 
the tribulation of those days" — [what occasion, by the by, 
for supposing the sufferings of the Jewish nation in all 
ages to be treated of at all ?] — " so it would, on the other 
hand, be equally so to say, that the general judgment, 
which probably will not commence till at least a thousand 
years after their restoration, will happen immediately after 
their sufferings ; nor can I find any one instance in which 
eutheos (immediately) is used in such a strange lati- 
tude. What is said below (in Matt. xxiv. 34, Mark xii. 
30, and Luke xxi. 32,) seems also an insuperable objec- 
tion against such an interpretation. I am obliged, there- 

* Ch. xxiv. 7. t Ch. xxi. 11. % Jewish War, B. vi. Ch. 5 ; § 3. 

13 



146 SELECTIONS FROM 

fore, to explain this section as in the paraphrase ; though 
I acknowledge many of the figures used may with more 
literal propriety be applied to the last day, to which there 
may be a remote, though not an immediate, reference." 
Moved by these considerations, this worthy divine, though 
he sees some difficulties in the way, determines to apply 
the prophecy, thus far, to the destruction of Jerusalem. 
But when he comes to the thirty-sixth verse, though the 
series continues to flow without the least sign of inter- 
ruption, he paraphrases the words — " But of that day and 
hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but 
my Father only," in reference to the " final sentence " 
of all mankind ; and adds this note :— " I cannot agree 
with Dr. Clarke in referring this verse to the destruction 
of Jerusalem, the particular day of which was not a mat- 
ter of great importance; and as for the season of it, I 
see not how it could properly be said to be entirely un- 
known, after such an express declaration that it should 
be in that generation. — It seems, therefore, much fitter, 
with Dr. Whitby, (after Grotius,) to explain it of the last 
day, when heaven and earth slicdl pass away" Well, then, 
the Doctor has now taken the leap. The simple connec- 
tive " but" has carried him over an interval of not less, 
according to his computation, than three thousand years. 
No sooner, however, has he taken this leap, than he deems 
it necessary to jump back again. He seems to apply the 
very next verses to the subject just dismissed : but in a 
note on the fortieth and forty-first verses, " Then shall 
two be in the field," &c, he explicitly says, that though 
these words " may allusively be accommodated to the 
day of judgment, yet he doubts not they originally refer 
to the destruction of Jerusalem, to which alone they are 
properly applicable." He now, however, determines to 
fly for the last time across the gulf; so he adds, "I 
humbly conceive, that the grand transition, about which 
commentators are so much divided, and so generally 
mistaken, is made precisely after these two verses" Let 
the reader then examine whether he can here find the 
marks of " the grand transition," so conspicuous to Dr. 
Doddridge ; or whether he will not rather find that the 
discourse proceeds in the same unbroken series, making 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 147 

no transition but from the announcement of awful facts, 
to the deducing from them of weighty admonitions. Thus 
Dr. Doddridge's well-meant attempt to relieve the hiatus 
scheme of its difficulties, only issues in a demonstration, 
that the difficulties are insuperable.' pp. 217 — 223. 



SECTION XLV. 



* The Son of man goeth, as it is written of him : but wo unto that man 
by whom the Son of man is betrayed ! it had been good for that man if he 
had not been born. 7 — Matt.xxvI. 24. 

The parallel places are Mark xiv. 21 , and Luke xxii. 
22. When other arguments have failed, the case of 
Judas is frequently alleged as proof that endless misery 
shall be the fate of the wicked. This passage, however, 
does not appear to be perfectly satisfactory to the ortho- 
dox ; for they seldom (I mean the great body of them,) 
quote it correctly. The most approved form in which it 
is exhibited is this: — It would have been better for that 
man if he had never been born. The reader will per- 
ceive, however, that this is very different from the pas- 
sage as it stands. By the following quotations, it ap- 
pears that there are some orthodox commentators who 
interpret these words correctly. 

1. Hammond. c I am to go out of this world, to be 
put to death according to prophecies : God hath deter- 
mined that I should come, and, like the good shepherd, 
incur any hazard — lay down my life for the sheep ; and 
foreseeing the malice of the Jews, and their bloody de- 
signs, and the falseness of Judas, &c, he hath determined 
to permit me to be slain by them, and accordingly hath 
foretold it by the prophets, that I should be led as a sheep 
to the slaughter, &c. But that will contribute little to 
his advantage that is the actor in it. It is a most unhap- 
py thing to have any hand in putting the Messias, or any 



14S SELECTIONS FROM 

other person to death, though their dying may be deter- 
mined by God to most glorious ends, which the wicked 
actor or contriver knows nothing of, nor at all designs, 
but directly the contrary, and therefore any such is a 
most wretched creature.' Par. in Mark xiv. 21. 

Not a hint is given in this paraphrase, that endless 
misery is indicated in the text. The doctor merely says, 
and says very truly, that any one, guilty like Judas, 
' is a most wretched creature.' On Luke xxii. 22, he 
says : — 

1 The Son of Man is to be put to death, as God hath 
decreed it should be ; but woe to him that hath any hand 
in that execution.' 

But that he did not consider the persons, thus con- 
cerned in crucifying the Prince of life, to be beyond the 
reach of mercy, is plain from his note on Matt. xii. 32, 
to which the reader is referred for a full exposition of 
Dr. Hammond's views on this subject. It will be 
seen, that he believed the Jews who crucified Jesus 
(and of course Judas also, for he here puts them all in 
the same class,) might repent, and on repentance be 
forgiven. 

2. Clarke. As the reader will perceive, when Dr. 
Clarke wrote his note on Matt. xxvi. 24, he imagined 
that it contained proof of the endless damnation of Judas. 
But at the end of Acts, chap. i. he has a long note, 
showing, that in his opinion, 'there is no positive evi- 
dence of the final damnation of Judas, in the sacred 
text.' From that note the following extract is made, 
which, though somewhat long, I trust the reader will 
pardon on account of its importance. It should be re- 
membered, while reading this extract, that the words in 
question were spoken with direct reference to Judas, 
and that, as a matter of course, if they do not prove his 
' final damnation,' they cannot prove the 'final damnation' 
of any other person. 

' To say the repentance of Judas was merely the effect 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 149 

of bis horror — that it did not spring from compunction of 
heart — that it was legal and not evangelical, &c. &c, is 
saying what none can with propriety say, but God him- 
self, who searches the heart. What renders his case 
most desperate, are the words of our Lord, Matt. xxvi. 
*24, Wot unto that man by ichom the Son of man is betray- 
ed ! it had been good for that man if he had not been born ! 
I have considered this saying in a general point of view, 
in my note on Matt. xxvi. 24, and were it not a pro- 
vcrbial form of speech, among the Jews, to express the 
state of any flagrant transgressor, I should be led to ap* 
ply it, in all its literal import, to the case of Judas, as I 
have done in the above note to the case of any damned 
soul ; but when I find it was a proverbial saying, and that 
it has been used in many cases where the fixing of the 
irreversible doom of a sinner is not implied, it may be 
capable of a more favorable interpretation than what is 
generally given to it.' 

After quoting several passages from the Jewish wri- 
ters, to show the manner in which they were accuse 
tomed to use this phrase, Dr. Clarke continues : — 

1 These examples sufficiently prove that this was a 
common proverb, and is used with a great variety and 
latitude of meaning, and seems intended to show, that the 
case of such persons was not only very deplorable, but 
extremely dangerous ; but does not imply the positive 
impossibility either of their repentance or salvation. 

• The utmost that can be said for the case of Judas, is 
this : he committed a heinous act of sin and ingratitude, 
but he repented and did what he could to undo his wick- 
ed act ; he had committed the sin unto death, i, e., a sir 
that involves the death of the body ; but who can say, 
(if mercy was offered to Christ's murderers, and the gos- 
pel was first to be preached at Jerusalem, that these very 
murderers might have the first offer of salvation through 
him whom they had pierced,) that the same mercy could 
not be extended to wretched Judas ? I contend that the 
chief priests, &c, who instigated Judas to deliver up his 
Master, and who crucified him, and who crucified him 
too as a malefactor, having at the same time the most 
13* 



150 SELECTIONS FROM 

indubitable evidence of his innocence, were ivorse men than 
Judas Iscariot himself; and that if mercy was extended 
to those, the wretched, penitent traitor did not die out of 
the reach of the yearning of its bowels. And I contend 
farther, that there is no positive evidence of the final 
damnation of Judas, in the sacred text.' Note in fin. 
Acts, chap. i. 



SECTION XL VI.* 



' Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in 
this adulterous and sinful generation 5 of him also shall the Son of man be 
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. 
And he said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, That there be some of them 
that stand here which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the 
kingdom of God come with power.' Mark viii. 38, and ix. 1. 

The parallel places are Matt. x. 33, and Luke ix. 

26, 27. See also Matt. xvi. 27, 28, which contains a 
phrase very similar to that which occurs here. Some 
have supposed this passage to imply the endless misery 
of those whom Jesus should deny in the manner here 
indicated. But there is good and sufficient orthodox 
authority for understanding the text to relate to temporal 
affairs, indicating a distinction which should be made 
between faithful and unfaithful disciples, at a period not 
long after the words were spoken. 

Lightfoot. ' The kingdom of God coming in power. 
In Matthew it is the Son of man coming in his kingdom. 
The coming of Christ in his vengeance and power, to 
destroy the unbelieving and most wicked nation of the 
Jews, is expressed in these forms of speech. Hence this 
is the sense of the present place : our Saviour had said, 
in the last verse of the former chapter, " Whosoever 

* For remarks on Mark iii. 29, see notes on Matt. xii. 32. Mark vi. 11, 
see Matt. x. 15, and xi. 22—24. Mark viii. 35—37, see Matt. x. 39, and 
xvi. 25, 26. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 151 

shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulter- 
ous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be 
ashamed, when he shall come in the glory of his Father, 
with his holy angels, to take punishment of that adulter- 
ous and sinful generation." And he suggests, with good 
reason, that his coming in glory should be in the life-time 
of some that stood there.' Heb. and Talm. Excrc. in 
Mark ix. 1. 

2. Hammond. On this passage Dr. Hammond merely 
refers to his note on Matt. xvi. 26, 27, in which I un- 
derstand him to apply Christ's coming in his glory to 
the period when he came to execute punishment on the 
unbelieving Jews, destroying them by the hand of the 
Romans. On the parallel place, he says : — 

1 Of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he 
comes so illustriously to punish his crucifiers (or, at the 
last, judge the world). See note on Matt, xvi, 28, which 
is not now so far off, but that some here present shall live 
to see it.' Par. in Luke ix. 26, 27. 

3. Pearce. That Bishop Pearce understood this pas- 
sage to relate to events then near at hand, is very certain 
from his note on ver. 35, of this chapter, in which he re- 
fers to the place under consideration : ' That this was 
meant of what was to come to pass in the destruction of 
the Jewish state, see ver. 38, of this chapter, together 
with chap. ix. 1.' Com. in ver. 35. 

4. Wynne. " Kingdom of God come with power : i. e., 
till the Messiah comes to visit the Jewish nation in a pow- 
erful and most astonishing manner, by the destruction of 
their city and polity, and to propagate his gospel in a 
divinely efficacious manner.' Note in loc. 

5. Gilpin. ■ Those only are my faithful disciples, who, 
amidst the reproaches and ill usage of the world, dare 
confess me, and maintain their profession.' Expos, in 
Matt. x. 33. 

6. Beausobre and Lenfant. These writers say that 
by his glory, (ver. 26,) Jesus intended his 'resurrection, 
and ascension, and the judgments he would execute on 
the Jewish nation;' and that the kingdom of God (ver. 



152 SELECTIONS FROM 

27,) signifies here, * the preaching of the gospel through 
the whole world, and the ruin of Jerusalem, which St. 
John lived to witness.' Note in Luke ix. 26, 27. 

7. Calmet.* Calmet joins chap. ix. 1, to viii. 38, 
making 39 verses in chap. viii. He remarks, that ' the 
printed Greek copies have removed this 39th verse to the 
beginning of the next chapter ; but the connexion of the 
discourse requires that it be left in this place. It very 
conveniently unites with the preceding remarks : and its 
explication is to be sought from Matt. chap. xvi. 28.' 
Com, in loc. 

In the place to which he refers, Calmet says that most 
of the ancient critics supposed this coming of Christ 
to relate to his transfiguration ; but some of them applied 
it to his resurrection, others to the preaching of the gos- 
pel, and others, again, to the last day. He then states 
another interpretation, which he himself seems to ap- 
prove, as follows : — 

6 Most of the recent critics apply this coming of the 
Son of God to the period when Jerusalem was completely 
overturned and destroyed by the Romans. Then Jesus 
Christ came in majesty with his Father, to execute pun- 
ishment on the rebellious, unbelieving Jews. Then the 
Lord came with his angels,' &c. 

Yet, like many other writers, Calmet imagines that 
Jesus mentioned, in connection with his prediction of 
these calamities, some things which may also belong to 
the last judgment. 

* When the preface, containing a list of authors quoted, was printed, I 
had not examined Calmet. Having since possessed myself of a copy of 
his commentary. I have made a few selections. As this is the first, I 
shall here give the title-page, &c, of his work. 

' A. R. P. D. Augustini Calmet, ordinis S. Benedicti, Congregatkmis 
S. S. Vitomni et Hidulphi, Commentarium literale in omnes ac singulos 
turn Veteris cum Novi Testamenti libros, e Gallico in Latinum sermonem 
translatum. ; 8 vols, folio. Augsburg, 1734, 1735. 

' It has a vast apparatus of prefaces and dissertations, in which immense 
learning, good sense, sound judgment, and deep piety are invariably dis- 
played. This is without exception the best comment on the sacred writings 
ever published, either by Catholics or Protestants. 7 Dr. A. Clarke. 

Walchius (Bibl. Theol. vol. iv. p. 433 ; ) has pronounced an equally strong, 
but well-deserved eulogium on this valuable work ; to which we have been 
largely indebted in the course of these volumes.' Home, Intro, ii. 750. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 153 



SECTION XL VII.* 



1 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos- 

Eel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved 3 
ut he that believeth not, shall be damned. 7 — Mark xvi. 15, 16. 

Here we have a passage, which many feel absolutely 
certain must relate to endless misery. But, however con- 
fident they may feel, some of their own standard writers 
have given it a different interpretation, explaining it with 
reference to this world, and not to the next : — 

1. Campbell. ' This is not a just version of the Greek 
word. The term damned, with us, relates solely to the 
doom which shall be pronounced upon the wicked at the 
last day. This cannot be affirmed with truth of the 
Greek katakrino, which corresponds exactly to the Eng- 
lish word condemn.' Note in loc. 

2. Horne. * The sanctions with which our Lord en- 
forces the precept of faith in him, though generally ap- 
plied to a future judgment, do not appear to have any 
relation to it ; but only to the admission of christian con- 
verts into the christian church, after Christ's ascension, 
upon the same terms as he admitted them himself. Jesus 
here, upon leaving the world, gives his apostles the same 
power which he himself had exercised, and orders them 
to use it in the same manner : He that believeth not shall 
be condemned, or accountable for his sins.' 

' These texts have no relation to their condemnation or 
acquittal at the day of judgment ; at which time every 
man will be judged according to his works, and accord- 
ing to what he has received.' Home's Intro, vol. i. 
p. 446. 

3. Cappe. ' The truth is, that the salvation here 
spoken of is not the salvation of a future life, the final 
recompense of virtue, but exemption and preservation 

* For remarks on Mark ix. 43 — 48, see notes on Matt. v. 22, 28, 29, and 
xviii 8, 9. Mark ix. 49, 50, see Matt. v. 13. Mark x. 15, see Matt, xviii. 
3. Mark x. 24,25, see Matt. xix. 23, 24. Mark xii. L— 11, see Matt. xxi. 
33—44. Mark xii. 40, see Matt, xxiii. 14. Mark xiii. 13, see Matt. x. 22, 
and xxiv. 13. Mark xiv. 21, see Matt. xxvi. 24. 



154 SELECTIONS FROM 

from the wrath to come upon a large part of that present 
generation of the Jewish people, for their unbelief. It 
has no relation to moral merit, and is addressed to the 
people of that age, and of that religion only. It was a 
dispensation of the Mosaic economy. That condemna- 
tion to which this salvation has reference, was a tempo- 
ral and national punishment for the violation of the law of 
Moses, and of the positive requisitions of God, made by 
the prophets of that institution. It is to faith that this 
salvation is promised ; on unbelief, that this- condemna- 
tion is denounced.' Crit. Rem. ii. 106. ' 



SECTION XLVIIL* 



1 T tell you nay ; but exeept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' 
Luke xiii. 3, 5. 

This is a very favorite passage with the conductors of 
revival meetings, anxious meetings, whispering meet- 
ings, et id omne genus ; utterly regardless of the mean- 
ing of Jesus, they quote these words as belonging to the 
situation of men in the future life. When some passa- 
ges are misapplied, there is at least the excuse of igno- 
rance, or misapprehension, to plead in extenuation. But 
this excuse will not avail in the present case. Some 
among- the laitv, who have much less knowledge than 
faith and zeal, may perhaps honestly mistake the mean- 
ing of this text ; but I think I hazard nothing in saying, 
that every clergyman in Christendom, worthy of the 
name, 'knows better than to apply it to the concerns of 

* For remarks on Luke iii. 7, see notes on Matt. iii. 7. Luke iii. 9, see 
Matt. iii. 10. Luke iii. 17, see Matt. iii, 12. Luke vi. 47 — 49, see Matt, 
vii. 24—29. Luke ix. 24, 25, see Matt. x. 39, and xvi. 25, 26. Luke ix. 
26, 27, see Matt. x. 33. xvi. 27, 28, and Mark viii. 38. Luke x. 12—15, see 
Matt. x. 15, and xi. 22—24. Luke xi. 24—26, see Matt. xii. 43—45. 
Luke xi. 31, 32, see Matt. xii. 41, 42. Luke xii. 4, 5, see Matt. x. 28. 
Luke xii. 9, see Mark viii. 38. Luke xii. 10, see Matt. xii. 32. Luke xii. 
42—48, see Matt. xxiv. 45—51. Luke xii. 58, 59, see Matt. v. 25, 26. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 155 

men in the future life. The context is so perfectly 
plain, that it seems impossible for any careful reader to 
misapprehend its import. Out of a great variety of 
orthodox testimonies, I quote a few only, as they are 
sufficient for my purpose. 

1. Hammond. Ver. 3, 'If you continue in your pre- 
sent wicked practices, raising sedition under pretence of 
piety, as frequently you are apt to do, then as they per- 
ished at the day of Pascha at their sacrifice, so shall a 
multitude of you, on that very day, in the temple, be 
slaughtered like sheep, and that for the same cause — a 
sedition raised in the city. 5 

Ver. 5, ' Ye shall all perish in the ruins of the whole 
city, as they in that tower. 5 Par. in loc. 

2. Dutch Annotations. ' That is, be destroyed by 
God's righteous judgment, as also afterwards came to pass 
by the Romans. 5 Annot. in loc. 

3. Pearce. ' Except ye, the nation of the Jews, re* 
pent, your state shall be destroyed. 5 Com. in loc. 

4. Whitby. ' I tell you nay ; but except ye repent, 
ye shall all likewise perish, for the same cause, and 
many of you after the same manner. 5 

' Ye shall likewise perish : That is, saith Grotius, among 
the ruins of the city, of which that tower was a part, they 
perishing in Jerusalem, ver. 4, or rather among the ruins 
of the towers of the city, and the temple. 5 Par. and 
Note in loc. 

5. Rosenmuller. ' This was fulfilled at the last pass- 
over, a most fatal day to the Jews. See Josephus, Bell. 
Jud. Lib. vi. chap. 5, § 6. In these words are contained 
both a prophecy and an admonition. It shall come to 
pass, says Jesus, that ye shall perish in the same man- 
ner ; yet, by a thorough reformation, ye may escape such 
a fate. 5 Scholia in loc. 

6. Calmet. ' Jesus Christ here predicts those calam- 
ities which overwhelmed them, when Jerusalem, was des- 
troyed by the Romans ; for then, very many impenitent 
and unbelieving Jews were buried together under the 
ruins of their most miserable nation. 5 Com. in loc. 



156 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION XLIX.* 



1 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and find 
linen, and fared sumptuously every day : And there was a certain beggar 
named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be 
fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table : moreover, the 
dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, 
and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also 
died, and was buried : And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, 
and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and 
said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip 
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue : for I am tormented in 
this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime 
receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : but now he 
is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us 
and you there is a great gulf fixed : so that they which would pass from 
hence to you, cannot 3 neither can they pass to us, that would come from 
thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest 
send him to my father's house : For I have five brethren 5 that he may tes- 
tify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham 
saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets 5 let them hear them. 
And he said, Nay, father Abraham : but if one went unto them from the 
dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses 
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from 
the dead.' — Luke xvi. 19 — 31. 

This parable seems to be the chief comer-stone of mo- 
dern orthodoxy. In the list of proof-texts alleged in sup- 
port of the doctrine of endless misery, this is never omit- 
ted. Yet there are some among orthodox commentators, 
and among the most eminent too, who interpret the 
text as a parable, not a piece of real history, and who 
allow it may apply to a state of things in the present 
world. I do not say that all w r ho allow this to be a para- 
ble, understand it to be descriptive of events in the pres- 
ent state of existence ; but some of them admit it may 
have this meaning. I shall quote also certain declara- 
tions of orthodox writers, w T hich seem inconsistent with 
the application of the passage to the concerns of the 
future life. 

1. Lightfoot. ' Whoever believes this not to be a 

* For remarks on Luke xiii. 23 — 30, see notes on Matt. vii. 13, 14, 21, 22, 
23, and viii. 11, 12. Luke xiii. 34, 35, see Matt, xxiii. 37 — 39. Luke xiv. 
16—24, see Matt. xxii. 2—14. Luke xiv. 34, 35, see Matt. v. 13. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 157 

parable, but a true story, let him believe also those little 
friars, whose trade it is to show the monuments at Jeru- 
salem to pilgrims, and point exactly to the place where 
the house of the " rich glutton" stood. Most accurate 
keepers of antiquity indeed ! who, after so many hundreds 
of years, such overthrows of Jerusalem, such devastations 
and changes, can rake out of the rubbish the place of so 
private a house, and such a one too, that never had any 
being, but merely in parable. And that it was a para- 
ble, not only the consent of all expositors may assure us, 
but the thing itself speaks it. 

c The main scope and design of it seems this — to hint 
the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, who, though 
they had Moses and the prophets, did not believe them — 
nay, would not believe, though one (even Jesus) arose 
from the dead. For that conclusion of the parable 
abundantly evidenceth what it aimed at : If they hear not 
Moses and the prophets, ^*c.' Ileb. and Talm. Ezerc. in 
Luke xvi. 19. 

2. Whitby. ; That this is only a parable, and not a 
real history of what was actually done, is evident : (1,) 
Because we find this very parable in the Gemara Baby- 
lonicum, whence it is cited by Mr. Sheringham, in the 
preface to his Joma. (2,) From the circumstances of it, 
viz., the rich man's lifting up his eyes in hell, and seeing 
Lazarus in Abraham' 9 s bosom, his discourse with Abraham, 
his complaint of being tormented with flames, and his desire 
that Lazarus might be sent to cool his tongue ; and if all 
this be confessedly parable, why should the rest, which 
is the very parable in the Gemara, be accounted history V 
Annot. in he. 

The reader will recollect, that the word translated hell, 
in this parable, is hades : with this fact in his mind, he 
will the more fully understand the force of the following 
quotation. He will also recollect, that the principal por- 
tion of this parable, winch is supposed to signify torment 
after death, is the phrase, in hell [hades] he lifted up 
his eyes, being in torment. 

3. Hammond. ' That this is not a story, but a parable, 
14 



158 SELECTIONS FROM 

may appear by Gemara Baby, ad Cod. Berachoth, where 
thus much of it is set down : that " a king made a great 
feast, and invited all the strangers ; and there came one 
poor man, and stood at his gates, and said unto them, 
give me one bit or portion ; and they considered him not. 
And he said, my lord, the king of all the great feasts 
thou hast made, it is hard in thine eyes to give me one 
bit, or fragment, among them." And the title of this 
passage there is a parable of a king of flesh and blood.'' 
Annot. in loc. 

In his paraphrase, Hammond seems to understand this 
passage as representing a state of misery in the future 
life. Yet it should not be forgotten, that, in a note on 
Matt. xi. 23, he has given his views of the word hades — 
here translated hell — where, after noticing its usage in 
' profane writers/ and also in the old Testament, he says : 

4 Thus every where doth this word signify a state of 
death, destruction, (denotes no place either of souls, heaven 
or hell, or of bodies, the grave, but) the aphanismos, in- 
visible state. That the writers of the church had this 
notion of the phrase in the creed, may be discerned, among 
many, by this place in Theophylact, in Rom. iv. 25 — See- 
ing he died, having no sin, it was reason he should rise 
again ; for how shoidd he that was sinless be detained by 
hades ? — =■ where being detained by hades is, by the opposi- 
tion to rising again, explained to be no more than con- 
tinuing in the state of the dead.' Annot. in Matt. xi. 23. 

4. Elsley. In hell: ' This is that one passage in 
scripture, which has induced many to think that hades 
expresses the place of torment ; whereas it is certain it 
is no more than a place (aoraton aidion,) withdrawn from 
sight ; when speaking of the body, the sepulchre ; when 
of the soul, any region that it inhabits without the body. 
Thus the rich man and Lazarus were equally en hade ; 
i. e., in different regions of it ; for both paradise and 
gehenna, or, as the Greeks express themselves, elysium 
and tartarus, are en hade,'' &c. Annot. in loc. 

5. Wakefield. Ver. 23, * In the grave ; en to hade : 
and, conformably to this representation, he is spoken of 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 159 

ns having a body, ver. 24. It must be remembered, that 
hades no where means hell — gehenna — in any author what- 
soever, sacred or profane ; and also, that our Lord is giving 
his hearers a parable, (Matt. xiii. 34,) and not a piece of 
teal history. To them who regard the narration as a 
reality, it must stand as an unanswerable argument for 
the purgatory of the papists. The universal meaning of 
hades is the state of death ; because the term sepulchrum, 
or grave, is not strictly applicable to such as have been 
consumed by fire, &c. See ver. 30.' Note in loc. 

So much it seemed proper to say, in regard to the 
meaning of hades, here rendered hell. It is sufficiently 
testified by orthodox writers, that this passage is a parable, 
not a history, and that the word hades, in the language 
of Dr. Campbell, quoted in another place, i ought never 
in scripture to be rendered hell, at least in that sense 
wherein that word is now universally understood by 
Christians.' Prel. Diss. vi. P. ii. $ 2. 

In the quotations which follow, the writers suggest the 
circumstances to which they suppose Jesus might have 
had reference. When I first saw Dr. Gill's remarks, I 
was utterly astonished, inasmuch as it seemed incredible 
that a man, so thoroughly orthodox as he, should have 
given countenance to the notion, that this parable does 
not positively teach the doctrine of endless misery. 

6. Gill. Dr. Gill makes a tw T o-fold application of 
this parable, through the w T hole of it. He understands 
by the rich man, ' the Jews in general, ' and by the 
beggar, ' our Lord Jesus Christ himself.' The death 
and torment of the rich man, he says may mean either 
the natural death of the Jews, and their torment after 
death, or certain temporal calamities may be intended. I 
shall quote a few extracts, in regard to the latter meaning 
which he assigns to this parable : — 

The rich man died : ' It may also be understood of the 
political and ecclesiastical death of the Jewish people, 
w r hich lay in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, 
and of the temple, and in the abolition of the temple 



160 SELECTIONS FROM 

worship, and of the whole ceremonial law ; a Loammi was 
written upon their church state, and the covenant between 
God and them was broken ; the gospel was removed from 
them, which was as death, as the return of it, and their 
call by it, will be as life from the dead ; as well as their 
place and nation, their civil power and authority were 
taken away from them by the Romans, and a death of 
afflictions, by captivity and calamities of every kind, 
have attended them ever since.' 

In hell — in torments: ' This may regard the vengeance 
of God on the Jews, at the destruction of Jerusalem, 
when a fire was kindled against their land, and burned 
to the lowest hell, and consumed the earth with her in- 
crease, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains ; 
and the whole land became brimstone, salt, and burning; 
and they were rooted out of it in anger, wrath, and great 
indignation — see Deut. xxix. 23, 27, 28, xxxii. 22 — or 
rather the dreadful calamities which came upon them in 
the times of Adrian, at Either ; when their false messiah, 
Bar Cochab, was taken and slain, and such multitudes of 
them were destroyed, in the most miserable manner, when 
that people, who before had their eyes darkened, and a 
spirit of slumber and stupidity fallen upon them, in those 
calamities began to be under some convictions.' Expos. 
in loc. 

7. Theophylact. This ancient writer first applies 
the parable to the concerns of the next life ; he then 
says : — 

' But this parable can also be explained in the way of 
allegory ; so that we may say, that by the rich man is 
signified the Jewish people ; for they were formerly rich, 
abounding in all divine knowledge, wisdom, and instruc- 
tion, which are more excellent than gold and precious 
stones. And they were arrayed in purple and fine linen, 
as they possessed a kingdom and a priesthood, and were 
themselves a royal priesthood to God. The purple de- 
noted their kingdom, and the fine linen, their priesthood ; 
for the Levites were clothed in sacerdotal vestments of 
fine linen, and they fed sumptuously, and lived splendidly, 
every day. Daily did they offer the morning and the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 1G1 

evening sacrifice, which they also called the continual 
sacrifice. But Lazarus was the Gentile people, poor in 
divine grace and wisdom, and lying before the gates ; for 
it was not permitted to the Gentiles to enter the house 
itself, because they were considered a pollution. Thus, 
in the Acts of the Apostles, we read that it was alleged 
against Paul, that he had introduced Gentiles into the 
temple, and made that holy place common or unclean. 
Moreover, those people were full of fetid sores of sin, 
on which the impudent dogs, or devils, fed, who delight 
themselves in our sores. The Gentiles likewise de- 
sired even the crumbs which fell from the tables of the 
rich ; for they were wholly destitute of that bread which 
strengthens the heart of man, and wanted even the small- 
est morsel of food ; so that the Canaanite woman, (Matt. 
xv. 27,) when she was a heathen, desired to be fed with 
the crumbs. In short, the Hebrew people were dead 
unto God, and their bones, which could not be moved 
to do good, were perished. Lazarus also (I mean the 
Gentile people,) was dead in sin, and the envious Jews, 
who were dead in sins, did actually burn in a flame of 
jealousy, as saith the Apostle, on account of the Gen- 
tiles being received into the faith, and because that those 
who had before been a poor and despised Gentile race, 
were now in the bosom of Abraham, the father of na- 
tions, and justly, indeed, were they thus received. For 
it was while Abraham was yet a Gentile, that he believed 
God, and turned from the worship of idols to the know- 
ledge of God. Therefore, it was proper that they who 
were partakers of his conversion and faith, should rest 
in his bosom, sharing the same final lot, the same habita- 
tion, and the same blessedness. And the Jewish people 
longed for one drop of the former legal sprinklings and 
purifications, to refresh their tongue, that they might con- 
fidently say to us, that the law was still efficacious and 
availing. But it was not ; for the law was only until John. 
And the psalmist says, sacrifice and oblations thou wouldst 
not, &c.' Annot. in loc. 

Theophylact closes by observing, that we ought to 
make a moral use of this parable, and not despise our 
servants, who stand at our gates. 
14* 



162 SELECTIONS FROM 

I shall quote only one more authority, and that from 
a work entitled, a ' Rationale of the Literal Doctrine of 
Original Sin, &c, by James Bate, M. A., Rector of 
Deptford. ; This writer, I suppose, was not a Univer- 
salist. The extract follows : — 

8. Bate. ' We will suppose, then, the rich man, who 
fared so sumptuously, to be the Jew, so amply enriched 
with the heavenly treasure of divine revelation. The 
poor beggar who lay at his gate, in so miserable a plight, 
was the poor Gentile, now reduced to the last degree of 
want, in regard to religious knowledge. Tlie crumbs which 
fell from the rich man's table, and which the beggar was 
so desirous of picking up, were such fragments of patri- 
archal and Jewish traditions, as their travelling philoso- 
phers were able to pick up with their utmost care and 
diligence. And those philosophers were also the dogs 
that licked the sores of heathenism, and endeavored to 
supply the wants of divine revelation, by such schemes 
and hypotheses, concerning the nature of the gods, and 
the obligation of moral duties, as (due allowance for their 
ignorance and frailties) did no small honor to human na- 
ture, and yet thereby plainly showed, how little a way 
unassisted reason could go, without some supernatural 
help, as one of the wisest of them frankly confessed. 
About one and the same time, the beggar dies, and is 
carried by the angers (i. e., God's spiritual messengers to 
mankind,) into Abraham's bosom; that is, he is engrafted 
into the church of God. And the rich man also dies and is 
buried. He dies what we call a political death. His dis- 
pensation ceases. He is rejected from being any longer 
the peculiar son of God. The people whom he parabol- 
ically represents, are miserably destroyed by the Romans, 
and the wretched remains of them, driven into exile over 
the face of the earth, were vagabonds, with a kind of 
mark set upon them, like Cain, their prototype, for a like 
crime ; and which mark may perhaps be their adlierence 
to the law. Whereby it came amazingly to pass, that 
these people, though dispersed, yet still dwell alone and 
separate, not being reckoned among the nations, as Balaam 
foretold. The rich man, being reduced to this state of 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 1G3 

misery, complains bitterly of his hard fate, bat is told 
by Abraham, that he slipped his opportunity, while La- 
zarus laid hold on his, and now receives the comfort of it. 
The Jew complains of the want of more evidence, to 
convince his countrymen, the five brethren, and would 
fain have Lazarus sent from the dead to convert them. 
But Abraham tells him, that if their own scriptures cannot 
convince them of their error, neither would they be persuaded, 
though one rose from the dead. And exactly so it proved 
in the event. For this parable w r as delivered towards the 
end of the third year of our Lord's ministry ; and in the 
fourth, or following year of it, the words put into the 
mouth of Abraham, as the conclusion of the parable, are 
most literally verified, by our Lord's raising another La- 
zarus from the dead. And we may presume, that the 
beggar had the fictitious name of Lazarus given him in 
the parable, not without some reason, since the supposed 
request of the rich man was fully answered, by our Lord's 
raising another, and a real Lazarus, from the dead. But 
what was the consequence ? Did this notorious miracle 
convince the rich man's brethren 1 No, truly. His visit 
to them from the dead was so far from convincing them, 
that they actually consulted together, that they might put 
Lazarus also to death; because that, by reason of him, 
many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. So 
much for the true sense of this parable.' 



SECTION L.* 



1 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Ex- 
cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' — John 
iii. 3. 

Much use has been made of this, and ver. 5, to prove 

* For remarks on Luke xvii. 33 — 36, see notes on Matt. xxiv. 40,41. 
Luke xviii. 17, see Matt, xviii. 3. Luke xviii. 24, 25, see Matt, xix.23, 
24. Luke xix. 11—27, see Matt. xxiv. 14—30. Luke xx. 9—18, see Matt, 
xxi. 33 — U. Luke xx. 47, see Matt, xxiii. 14. Luke xxii. 22, see Matt, 
xxvi. 24. 



164 SELECTIONS FROM 

that some men shall never be saved. And. in order to 
obtain this proof, it has been lat the kingdom of 

means that state of happiness to which saints 
shall be admitted in the future life ; in other words. 
7 . as that term is most commonly understood. But 
that Jesus did not use the phrase in this sense, and that 
the passage has no relation to another life, is manifest 
from the following quotations : — 

1. Beza. This very orthodox writer says, that the 
king] .m this place, does not mean 'that 
eternal life for which we are laboring, but the church 
over which God reigns.' Annot. in 

2. Geneva Bible. l S ti f f God: which 
thing is. to be assembled and incorporate into the church 
ot God.' Note in loc. 

3. Diodati. l Kingdom: viz.. he cannot be ingraffed, 
nor united to the church of God. 9 A 

4. Pearce. l Sei f God: i. e.. be admit- 
ted into it, and become one of my disciples.' Com, in 
loc. 

5. Whitby. ; Christ seems to speak this not prima- 
rily of that heavenly L into which the blessed 
shall enter at the day of judgment, but n{ that spiritual 
kingdom which was to be erected by the Messiah/ &c 
Annot. in 

6. Lightfoot. • That the kingdom of God. or of 
heaven, are terms convertible in the evangelist, is obvious 
to every one that will take the pains to compare them: 
and that by the kingdom of God. or of heaven, is meant 
the kingdom and times of the Messiah, is so plain, that 
it needs no argument to prove it.' Heb. and Tabs. 
FSztrc. in loc. 

Again : — ; Speech is there had (John iii. 3.) of Christ's 
kingdom of heaven upon earth, or the state under Christ.' 
Sermon on Matt, xxviii. 19. 

7. Hammond. Ver. 3, c Jesus, willing to undeceive him, 
and that he might not flatter himself, that the acknowledg- 
ing of him to be the Messias. or sent from God, would be 
sufficient without the undertaking of his service, owning 
and confessing of him, (in despite of all fear of men.) 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 165 

without being- his proselyte, and forsaking his former 
course, tells him positively, that unless he would be born 
again, which is a phrase to denote a proselyte of Christ, 
and, when occasion required, forsake all for Christ's sake, 
even his former course of life and dignity in the Jewish 
state, (contrary to his coming to him by night and ac- 
knowledging him secretly,) he should not see the kingdom 
of God, be a christian here, (which is a privilege of a 
greater height than that of being a Jew, or a member of 
their Sanhedrim,) or a saint hereafter.' 

Ver. 5, ' Jesus answers him, except a man be received 
as a proselyte, and that not of an ordinary sort, such as 
are among you Jews, but a Christian proselyte, such as 
are received by baptism in the Christian church, so as to 
undertake the law of Christ, and renounce his former 
(whether heathen, or) Jewish course, the first expressed 
by being washed in ivater, the ceremony of the Jews' prose- 
lytism, (now also made use of by Christ,) by which a 
man was said by the Jews to be new born, and accordingly, 
so here, in a high degree, the second by being born of the 
spirit, entering on a new, pure, spiritual life, and not 
cwriy passing under those external washings, (agreeable 
unto which it was, that Christ's disciples were admitted 
not only by water, as John's and the Jews' proselytes 
were, but by the Holy Ghost's descending on them, see 
note on Acts i. 5,) he cannot enter,' &c. Par. in loc. 

8. Cappe. c Except a man undergo a change as great 
as might be denominated a new birth, as great as might 
be conceived to pass upon him if he could be born again, 
as great as takes place upon the idolater when he be- 
comes a proselyte to Moses, he cannot share in the 
honors, or be employed in the ministry, of my kingdom.' 
Crit. Rem. i. 216. 

In another place, the same writer says, concerning the 
notion, that to enter the kingdom of God y or of heaven, 
signifies, c to obtain the happiness of a future life,' that 
this is ' a sense which I believe it never bears in scrip- 
ture.' Ibid. i. 226. 

9. Gilpin. ' Jesus told him, that his doctrine lay in a 
very short compass. A man, said he, must be born again, 
before he can be a member of my kingdom. Nicodemus 



166 SELECTIONS FROM 

not comprehending the expression, Jesus explained him- 
self, by saying, that nobody could be his disciple, who, 
after professing himself such by baptism, did not change 
his life, by a thorough repentance, and such holiness of 
disposition, as should always be assisted by the Spirit of 
God.' Expos, in loc. 

I have indulged myself in quoting more authorities than 
I should otherwise have done, for the reason mentioned 
in the introduction to the notes ; i. e., that this passage 
has been so much abused in its application, and is, I 
believe, at the present day, a very favorite one in all 
meetings intended to produce an excitement, by a pas- 
sionate appeal to the fears and tender feelings of women 
and children — of some children, too, who should be men, 
but are not. 



SECTION Ll. 



<He that belie veth on the Son, hath everlasting life : and he that be- 
lieveth not the Son, shall not see life j but the wrath of God abideth on 
him/" — John iii. 36. 

Some commentators pass over this verse without re- 
mark ; others interpret it to imply the endless misery of 
unbelievers. I do not now recollect any one of them 
who has given it what I believe to be its true interpre- 
tation. It cannot be supposed, by any man, that Jesus 
intended to say, that all who did not at that point of 
time believe on him, must suffer endless torment ; be- 
cause this w T ould be fatal to the hopes of all who have 
lived since that period. It is said, I know, he intended 
that all who should not believe during the present life, 
must suffer such torment ; but he did not say this. And 
I know of no better way to ascertain his meaning, than 
by attentively considering the import of his words. The 
most which can with propriety be said of this passage, 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 167 

is, that so long as men remain in unbelief, they must 
also remain destitute of the life here mentioned. But 
whenever they believe on the Son, they will become 
partakers of everlasting life. If this text be true, and 
if it be also true, that all shall know the Lord, from the 
least to the greatest, and every tongue confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, 
then it would seem, that all shall be partakers of life, and 
thus will the purpose of God be accomplished, ' who 
will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the 
knowledge of the truth.' Heb. viii. 11, Phil. ii. 11, 
1 Tim. ii. 4. 



SECTION LIL 



, l Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in 
the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth ; they that have 
done good, unto the resurrection of life 3 and they that have done evil, 
unto the resurrection of damnation.' — John v. 28, 29. 

Orthodox writers and preachers, in the present day, 
attach as much importance to this passage, as to the 
parable of the rich man and Lazarus. They seem to be 
positive, that the doctrine of endless misery is taught 
here. Although my proof to the contrary,. drawn from 
writers who believed the doctrine of torments in the 
future life, for sins committed in this, is not so full as on 
some other texts, yet a few selections will be exhibited. 

1. LiGHTFOOT. ( These words might also be applied to 
a spiritual resurrection, as were the former, (and so, com- 
ing out of graves meaneth, Ezek. xxxvii. 12,) the words of 
the verse following being only translated and glossed 
thus : and they shall come forth, they that do good, after 
they hear his voice in the gospel, to the resurrection of 
life; and they that do evil, after they hear the gos- 
pel, unto the resurrection of damnation. But they are 
more generally understood of the general resurrection,' 
&c. Harm. Evang Part iii. John v. 28. 



163 SELECTIONS FROM 

Hence it appears, that Lightfoot considered this appli- 
cation allowable, though he rather chose to adopt the 
opinion, which he says was more generally received. 

2. Cappe. Before exhibiting the following testimo- 
ny, it seems proper to remark once more, that the Rev. 
Newcome Cappe believed most firmly in a future retri- 
bution, or, in other words, misery in the future life. 
Whether he believed that misery will be endless or not, 
is of no consequence, so far as the present question is 
concerned. The only question now under consideration 
is, does this text relate to the concerns of the present 
state of existence, or the next ? To show the opinion 
of Mr. Cappe, I shall quote his paraphrase on verses 
25—29. 

(25.) ( Verily I say unto you, the period is approach- 
ing, and is not far off, when, after my exaltation, they 
who are now insensible and inattentive to the teachings, 
and warnings, and ministry, of the Son of man, of me, 
in my present humble circumstances, will hear my voice, 
when, being constituted the Son of God, I shall speak 
from heaven by the Holy Spirit sent to my apostles ; and 
they that hear shall live. Though you now despise me, 
and misinterpret my deeds and words, and meditate de- 
signs against my life, I mean you no ill, and am intend- 
ed to be a blessing to you. Though you despise the Son 
of man, the Son of God you will not despise ; and hear- 
ing him, he will be the means to save your lives, whose 
life you are seeking to destroy. 

(26.) ' For as the Father hath life in himself, and hath 
the power of giving life unto the dead, so hath he given to 
the Son the like power. He will enable him, by means 
of the Holy Spirit, accompanying the witnesses of his 
resurrection, to quicken, to give apprehension, sensibility, 
and discernment, to many who seem now to have them 
not — who are figuratively and spiritually dead. He will 
enable him to endue the converts to his gospel with the 
gifts of the Spirit, and thus to raise them from the dead, 
in imparting to them new principles of life ; and besides 
this, he will enable them to preserve their natural lives 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. ] G9 

in the approaching desolations of their country: thus will 
the Father honor him whom ye calumniate and reject. 

■ ('27. ) Nevertheless, it is not for such gracious purpo- 
ses alone that I am ordained unto a kingdom ; though I 
am a Son of man, low as I now am, and undistinguished 
from among the common of mankind, I am appointed 
also to judge, and to execute judgment upon this unto- 
ward generation. 

' (28, 29.) Let not what I say amaze you; suffer not 
yourselves to be lost in groundless hesitating and unpro- 
fitable wonder : believe me, for it is true, not only that the 
hour is very near at hand, when some, who are now per- 
fectly inattentive and insensible to my call, shall hear 
the voice in which I will address them from my approach- 
ing state of exaltation, and, being obedient thereto, shall 
live ; but it is alike true, that though yet farther off, yet 
the time is at no great distance, within the compass of 
this present generation, when all that are now in the 
graves, who at present sit in darkness and the shadow of 
death — the whole body of the Jewish people — shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God, summoning them to judgment ; 
and being then at length all awakened to perceive who and 
what he is, shall come forth out of their present state of 
darkness and ignorance, to a new state of mind — to a 
resurrection, which, to those who have been obedient to 
the calls of Providence, shall issue in the preservation of 
their lives, amidst the calamities which shall overwhelm 
their country — to those who have refused to hearken to 
them, shall issue in their condemnation, to fall among 
them that fall, and to take their share in all the bitter- 
ness of the calamities that are hastening to involve this 
country. Matt. xxv. 10 — 13, Luke xiii. 25 — 30.' Grit. 
Rem, i. 322—325. 

In a note at the close of this passage, he says — c In 
the graves, among the tombs, sitting in darkness, and in 
the region and shadow of death, Matt. iv. 16, Luke i. 78, 
79. See John iii. 18 — 21, "He that believeth on him is 
not condemned," &c. Comp. Eph. ii. 1, "And you hath 
he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Isa. 
xxvi. 19, " Thy dead men shall live, together with my 
dead body shall they arise," &c. Comp. Deut. xxxii., 
15 



170 SELECTIONS FIlOM 

his doctrine shall enliven men, as the dew the herb. 
Hosea vi. 2, "After two days will he revive us, in the 
third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his 
sight." Ezek. xxxvii., taken in a spiritual sense by the 
apostle, Rom. xi. 15, " What shall the receiving of them 
be, but life from the dead ?" Rev. xx. 5, the calling of 
the Gentiles is the first resurrection. It would, says 
Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 677, have prevented many errors, if 
the phrases, the last day, the day of the Lord, the end, new 
heavens and new earth, the dead raised, had been cautiously 
understood. In the Jerusalem Gemara, (supplement,) 
it is said, viz., "The righteous, even in death, are said to 
live ; and the wicked, even in life, are said to be dead." 
Lightfoot^ vol. ii. p. 131. See Harduin ; comp. Eph. v. 14, 
* Awake, thou that steepest, and arise from the dead, and 
Christ shall give thee light? Dan. xii. 3. 



SECTION LIII. 



' Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me : and where I am ; thither ye 
cannot come.' — John vii. 34. 

See a similar form of speech in the next passage 
quoted, John viii. 21. That these words furnish no 
evidence that some persons shall never go to Christ, is 
allowed by the following authors : — 

1. Gilpin. ' Some interpreters suppose the expression, 
where I am, thither ye cannot come, conveys some menace 
of future judgment. But, as our Saviour uses the same 
expression to his disciples, (xiii. 33,) it cannot well have 
that meaning.' Note in loc. 

2. Elsley. ' And ye shall seek me : in your distress, 
as xvii. 22, and chap. viii. 21, infra. Or, ye cannot find 
me, because ye are not fitted to go to heaven, where my 
Father is, Whitby. Or, no more than a general decla- 
ration, equally spoken to the malicious and well-disposed, 
as appears by its being repeated to the disciples, chap, 
xiii. 33, Grotius.' Annot. in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 171 

3. Kenrtck. ' When I have left the world, and am as- 
cended on high, you will earnestly look for the Messiah, 
when overtaken with the troubles which are coming upon 
you ; but I shall be removed to a place whither you can- 
not come to me. These last words were intended to 
reproach them for their folly, in resolving to put to death 
one whom they would so soon wish to have among them. 
This reference to his speedy removal to heaven, the Jews 
did not understand.' Expos, in loc. 

4. Calmet. This writer first explains the passage 
to mean, that the Jews could not follow Christ to heaven. 
But he seems so little satisfied with this interpretation, 
that he adds the following : — 

' Or rather the time shall come, when your afflictions 
shall so increase, that ye shall desire, though too late, 
and in vain, that a prophet like me should arise among 
you, who should relieve you by his counsel and assist- 
ance. Then those who believe in me shall desire a day 
of my presence, as a solace in those severe calamities by 
which they are overwhelmed. This corresponds with what 
Jesus elsewhere says, (Luke xvii. 22,) " The days will 
come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the 
Son of man, and ye shall not see it." Indeed, he says 
the same thing to his disciples, chap. xiii. 13, which 
makes it more certain, that these words are to be under- 
stood in this sense : ye shall seek me ; ye shall desire to 
see me, and to hear me. At length it shall come to pass, 
that even the unbelieving and obdurate Jews, seeing the 
destruction of their nation, and the ruin of their temple, 
shall be constrained to confess, that this is a just punish- 
ment of their sins ; especially of that unrighteous perse- 
cution which caused the death of Jesus Christ and his 
apostles. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Leontius, and 
Euthimius.' Com. in loc, 



172 



SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION LIV. 



' Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me. 
and shall die in your sins : whither I go. ye cannot come/— John viii. 21, 

See the passage last quoted ; see also chap. xiii. 33, 
where the same words are addressed to the disciples, 
manifestly showing that they do not imply endless mis- 
ery. The most fashionable way of quoting this text is 
as follows : — If ye die in your sins, where I go ye can 
never come. The reader will readily discover the false- 
ness of the quotation. I shall quote a few authorities 
for understanding the words of Jesus to refer to some- 
thing else, rather than to endless misery. 

1. Elsley. l Ye shall die in your sins : from Ezek. 
iii. 19, Grotius. En te amartia (sing.) : in this your sin 
of incredulity and unbelief, Beza. The impending judg- 
ment of the destruction of Jerusalem shall cut you off in 
it, Macknight.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Grotius. ' The destruction of the city and people 
is indicated, which was a presage of the general judg- 
ment.' Annot. in loc. 

3. Kenrick. ' As the Jews refused to believe in the 
divine mission of Jesus, and made light of his pretensions, 
he warns them of the evil consequences of their conduct, 
telling them, that the time would come when they would 
be sensible of the value of the Messiah, and seek him with 
the utmost diligence — that is, when the Roman armies 
began to ravage their country — but that they would not 
then be able to find him, since he should go to a place 
where they could not come to him, and would leave them 
to perish by those calamities which they would bring 
upon themselves by rejecting him.' Expos, in loc. 

4. Campbell. 4 Ye shall die in your sins: that is, har- 
dened, impenitent. It may also denote, that they should 
die, suffering the punishment of their sins. In this ex- 
planation, it conveys a prediction of the destruction of 
their city and state, in which it is not improbable, that 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 173 

some of our Lord's hearers on this occasion afterwards 
perished.' Note in loc. 



SECTION LV. 

1 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that 
judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in 
the last day. 7 — John xii. 48. 

So far as I have examined, all the commentators, who 
have said any thing concerning this passage, (one only 
excepted,) seem to understand by the last day, a period 
after death, which they call the day of judgment. For 
some remarks on this phrase, the reader is referred to 
the places indicated in the index. The one commentator 
whom I excepted is Rosenmuller ; his remarks follow : — 

Rosenmuller. ' The sense is this : — it naturally fol- 
lows, from the nature of this rejected doctrine, that he 
who rejects it should receive condemnation, (or judg- 
ment,) even as he who derides and slights the truth will 
at length suffer the natural evil consequences. For he 
who rejects my doctrine remains in error — is not libera- 
ted from evil, but renders himself miserable.' Scholia in 
loc. 

Rosenmuller does not state his views as to the pre- 
cise meaning of the phrase, the last day ; but his lan- 
guage, quoted above, manifestly implies, that, in his 
opinion, the judgment or condemnation mentioned in 
the text, belongs to some period of the present life, and 
needs not go beyond it for fulfilment. 
15* 



174 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION LVL 

' If a man abide not in me ; he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, 
and men gather them ; and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.— 
John xv. 6. 

See the notes on Matt. v. 13, where, under a different 
figure, the same sentiment appears to occur. 

1. Rosenmuller. 'If any one shall not hold fast my 
doctrine, he will cease to be my disciple ; he will be cast 
out, even as a branch cut off from a vine is cast out and 
becomes dry. Such a disciple shall be severely punished 
by my Father.' Scholia in loc. 

No intimation is given in this note, that the severe 
punishment to be inflicted on such an unfaithful disciple 
must be endured in the future life. 

2. Kenrick. ' If a man abide not in me, he is thrown 
away as a withered branch ; that is, he will be treated as 
men treat withered branches, which they gather together 
and burn in the fire. This is generally, I believe, under- 
stood to refer to the punishment of the wicked in another 
life, which is usually represented by fire ; but, as the rest 
of this discourse refers to the present life, perhaps Christ, 
by this language, only meant to express the useless and 
contemptible situation to which the apostles would be 
reduced, in the apprehension of the Divine Being, by 
deserting their christian profession. This is agreeable to 
what he says of them under a different figure : ye are 
the salt of the earth ; but if the salt has lost its savor, it 
is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and 
trodden under foot of men, Matt. v. 13. On the authority 
of this verse, the papists have founded the cruel practice 
of burning heretics, rather than putting them to death 
any other way.' Expos, in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 175 



SECTION LVII. 



{ I pray for them : I pray not for the world ; but for them which thou hast 
given me 5 for they are thine/ — John xvii. ix. 

1. Whitby. ' These things which follow, respecting 
only my apostles, which are to preach my gospel to all 
nations, I request not for that world which hath no 
knowledge of me. They who hence argue, that Christ 
died not for the world, nor sought the salvation of it, but of 
some few persons in it, because he here prays not for it, 
must be mistaken. For (1,) they plainly contradict both 
Christ and his apostles ; for Christ saith, he came not to 
condemn the world, but that it might be saved, John xii. 
47; that God sent his Son into the world, that the world 
through him might be saved, chap. iii. 17. Hence, this 
evangelist assures us, that he was the propitiation for the 
sins of the whole world, John ii. 2 ,- and others of them, 
that he came to seek and to save that which was lost, as 
doubtless all the world was, Matt, xviii. 11. 

4 (2,) They vainly argue, that Christ never prayed for 
the world, because he saith, here I do not do it now, which is 
arguing against plain matter of fact. For how oft doth 
he say to the Jews, ye are of the world, John viii. 23, 
and of his apostles, chosen out of them, that they were 
called out of the world ? as here, ver. 6, 14, 16. And 
yet he saith to them, Luke xix. 42, How do I wish that 
thou hadst known, in this thy day, the things that belong 
to thy peace ! And hanging on the cross, he said, Father, 
forgive them, Luke xxiii. 34, making intercession for 
those transgressors, Isa. liii. 12. 

' (3,) This very prayer for them is made for the sake 
of the world, and with respect to their saving faith ; i. e., 
for them who should believe through his word, ver. 20, 
that the world might believe and know that the Father 
had sent him, ver. 33 ; so that he prayed for his apostles, 
for this very end, that the world, by their means, might 
believe, and believing, might have life through his name. 
It is therefore plain, he made this prayer, in which he 
saith, I pray not for the world, out of affection to the 



176 SELECTIONS FROM 

world, and with this design, that the preaching of the 
apostles to them might be more effectual for their con- 
version and salvation.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Clarke. ' 1 pray not for the world: I am not yet 
come to that part of my intercession, see ver. 20. I am 
now wholly employed for my disciples, that they may be 
properly qualified to preach my salvation to the ends of 
the earth. Jesus here imitated the high-priest, the second 
part of whose prayer, on the day of expiation, was for 
the priests, the sons of Aaron, see on ver. 1. These words 
may also be understood as applying to the rebellious 
Jews ; God's wrath was about to descend on them, and 
Christ prays that his own followers might be kept from 
the evil, ver. 15. But he does not thus pray for the world, 
the rebellious Jews, because the cup of their iniquity was 
full, and their judgment slumbered not.' Com. in loc, 

3. Gilpin. • The expression in the original, I pray 
for them, I pray not for the world, seems, I think, to be 
generally misunderstood. Our Saviour did not mean, I 
should suppose, to exclude the world from his prayers, 
but only to ^y^j first for his chosen few. He afterwards 
(ver. 20,) prays for the rest of the world. See a similar 
expression, John x. 16.' Expos. Note in loc. 

4. Kenrick. ' In these words, Christ assigns the rea- 
sons why he prayed to God for his disciples ; it was 
because, while they were his disciples, they belonged also 
to God, and were to be employed in executing his pur- 
poses in the world ; this gave him reason to hope that his 
prayers for them would be heard. He does not mean to 
say that the unbelieving part of the world are not to be 
prayed for, since he prays for them himself, in the twenty- 
first verse ; but that they were not the persons about 
whom he was concerned at present. Having said that 
his disciples belonged to the Father, he is led to make a 
more general declaration, that everything which he had 
was his.' Expos, in loc. 

5. Calmet. This author says, that many under- 
stand these words of Jesus in an absolute sense, as if he 
did not pray at all for the world. But he gives his own 
view of the passage thus : — 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 177 

1 What I have petitioned, O Father, I have petitioned 
for these ; not for the world, not for the unbelieving Jews, 
nor for the Gentiles, who have not yet believed in me. I 
shall pray for them hereafter, (ver. 20 ;) but now I speak 
of my apostles only, who deserve my first care, because 
they are thine, and because thou hast given them to me.' 
Com. in loc. 



SECTION LVIII. 



1 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name : those 
that thou gavest me I have kept ; and none of them is lost, but the son of 
perdition 3 that the scripture might be fulfilled. 7 . — John xvii. 12. 

For further remarks on the case of Judas, see notes 
on Matt. xxvi. 24 3 and Acts i. 25. 

1. Whitby. ' And none of them is lost: i. e., either 
by temporal death, chap, xviii. 9, or by falling off from 
me, but the son of perdition, i. e., Judas, worthy of per- 
dition. So a son of death is one worthy of it, 2 Sam. 
xii. 5, and ethnos apoleias is a nation fit to be destroyed. 
Eccl. xvi. 9, Matt, xxiii. 15, and the note on Eph. ii. 2.' 
Annot. in loc. 

Dr. Whitby does not say what he understands by 
'perdition; but the word apoleias, in the passage he 
quotes above, is precisely the word rendered perdition 
in the text. From the manner in which he uses that 
passage, he seems to have understood the word to imply 
temporal destruction, and nothing more. 

2. Rosenmuller. ' No one is ignorant that Judas is 
here intended, the betrayer of Christ, and who had fallen 
off from him. Apoleia, (perdition,) therefore, as the 
preceding words teach, in this place, seems to indicate a 
defection from Jesus, the teacher ; as in 2 Thess. ii. 3, 
where the phrase uios apoleias (the son of perdition) 
differs very little from uios amartias, (the son of trans- 



178 SELECTIONS FROM 

gression,) and is used concerning a noted impostor, who 
persuaded many to a defection from the christian reli- 
gion.' Scholia in loc. 

3. Wakefield. * The son of mischief: sl Hebrew 
phrase for a destructive — pernicious — person ; upon which 
mode of speaking, see my commentary on Matt. v. 9.' 
Note in loc. 

4. Hammond. ' All this while of my continuing among 
them, I have labored, by revealing thy will to them, to 
confirm them, and also to preserve them from danger, 
and it hath succeeded well ; of all those whose hearts 
were, by thy preventing grace, so prepared, as that they 
came to me, and undertook my service, none hath mis- 
carried or fallen off, (see chap, xviii. 9, and here ver. 15,) 
but only that wicked traitor, prophesied of. Psalm cix.' 
Par. in loc. 

The verses here referred to, Dr. Hammond paraphra- 
ses thus : — 

Ver. 15, i By receiving that doctrine which I have 
taught them from thee, they are sure to be persecuted by 
the men of this world ; and all I beseech for them is, not 
that they should be taken hence from preaching it, but 
preserved constant in all affliction, that they fall not off 
from thee, nor miscarry in the approaching danger, (see 
ver. 12, and chap, xviii. 9,) but live to testify thy truth to 
the world.' 

Chap, xviii. 9, ' And by this means that speech of his 
(see chap. xvii. 12, 15,) had another, beside the ordinary 
completion, that no one of his disciples was cut off with 
him.' 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 179 



SECTION LIX. 



1 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of 
all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen. That he may take 
part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas, by transgression 
fell, that he might go to his own place. 7 — Acts 1, 24, 25. 

Some have imagined that this passage affords proof of 
the final damnation of Judas, and by implication, that 
of other wicked men. For some remarks on the con- 
trary part, see the notes on Matt. xxvi. 24, John xvii. 
12, and the following quotations: — 

1. Hammond. ' His own place : What is here meant 
by o topos o idios, (his own place,) may be best collected 
from the Icleros cliakonias kai apostoles, lot, or portion, of 
ministry and apostleship, that is, of apostolical ministry, 
in the beginning of the verse, the taking of which is pre- 
parative here to his going to this. That certainly sig- 
nifies meros, lachmon, merida, in Phavorinus, a part, or 
portion, that falls to any, particularly a province that be- 
longs to any governor, and (if that be a bishop or gov- 
ernor of the church, then) such a province (styled, ver. 
20, out of the psalmist, episkope, bishoprick,) which he 
that succeeds in, is said labein, to take there, as here, 
labein kleron, to take the portion of ministry, &c, and then 
that which is thus become any man's assigned province, 
cannot be more fitly expressed than by idios topos, the 
place or province proper to that man, assigned to him. 
This, therefore, regularly belonging to Judas, if he had 
not, by his treason against his Master, forfeited it, (which 
is here said, as in a parenthesis,) Matthias now succeeds 
him in it, takes his kleron, lot, or portion, and so is now 
to go to this, as his own place, or province, which had else 
belonged to another. 

1 Many prejudices there are against understanding 
this phrase of hell, as some have understood it, as the 
place whither Judas was to go. For (1,) that was not 
idios topos, the proper place or assignation of Judas, but 
common to all other damned spirits. (2,) It was not St. 



180 SELECTIONS FROM 

Luke's office to pass sentence on Judas, any further than 
by setting down the heinousness of his crime, which he 
had done, ver. 16 — 19, and was not to proceed to judge, 
or affirm, aught of God's secrets, such as his going into 
hell. And it is St. Chrysostom's observation on ver. 16, 
behold the wisdom of St. Luke, how he doth not reproach or 
insult on Judas, but simply sets down the matter of fact, 
without any descant on it ; and what he adds — he dis- 
courses of the present vengeance — belongs evidently to what 
befel him in this present world, and so excludes all en- 
larging to his future damnation. (3,) There is no pro- 
priety in saying of the one, that he sinned to go to hell ; 
but of the other it is most proper to say, that he was 
elected to such a kleros, or portion, to go, or that he 
might go, to it. To this accords Theophylact ; he calls 
that his own place, which Matthias should obtain. So Oe~ 
cumenius : it may be interpreted of Matthias, that Judas 
being fallen, he should have his place for his own, receiv- 
ing his bishoprick ; making place and bishoprick synony- 
mous. So Didymus : the word topos, among many things, 
signifies, saith he, an order, as the place of a bishop or 
an elder. So the ordinary gloss, that he should go to his 
own place, that is, the apostolical lot, making place and 
lot all one, just as I have interpreted it.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Pearce. 'That the phrase, to his own place, means 
the grave, may appear from what is said in Eccl. xlvi. 
12, and xlix. 10, where that writer, when pronouncing 
blessings on the twelve prophets, and upon the judges 
who governed Israel, says, let their bones flourish (ek tou 
topou auton,) out of their place; i. e., out of the grave, 
where their bones had been deposited. Clemens, Epist. i. 
sect. 5, says of Peter, that after his martyrdom, eporeuthe 
cis ton opheilomenon topon tes doxes, (he went to his merited 

place of glory, f Com. in loc. 

3. Clarke. ' This verse has been variously expound- 
ed : — 

1 1. Some suppose that the words, that he might go to 
his own place, are spoken of Judas, and his punishment 
in hell, which they say must be the own place of such a 
person as Judas. 

' 2. Others refer them to the purchase of the field, made 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 181 

by the thirty pieces of silver, for which he had sold our 
Lord. So he abandoned the ministry and apostolate, that 
he might go to his own place, viz., that which he had pur- 
chased. 

* 3. Others, with more seeming propriety, state, that his 
own place means his own house, or former occupation : he 
left this ministry and apostleship, that he might resume 
his former employment, in conjunction with his family, 
&c. This is primarily the meaning of it in Numb. xxiv. 
25— And Balaam returned to HIS OWN PLACE, i. e., to 
his own country, friends, and employment. 

' 4. Others think it simply means the state of the dead 
in general, independently of either rewards or punish- 
ments, and is probably meant by Ecel. iii. 20 — All go unto 
me place,; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 
But— 

' 5. Some of the best critics assert, that the words (as 
before hinted,) belong to Matthias — his own place being 
the office to which he was about to be elected.' Com. in 
loc. 

This last seems to have been Dr. Clarke's opinion ; 
for in another place he holds this language : — 

* Should the 25th verse be urged against this possibility, 
(i. e. ? of the salvation of Judas,) because it is there said 
that Judas fell from his ministry and apostleship, that he 
might go to his own place, and that this place is hell, I 
answer, (1,) It remains to be proved, that this place means 
hell; and (2,) It is not clear that the words are spoken of 
Judas at all, but of Matthias ; his own place meaning that 
vacancy in the apostolate to which he was then elected. 
See the note on ver. 25.' Note in fin. Acts, chap. i. 

4. Gilpin. ' The words, that he might go to his own 
place, have occasioned some difficulty. Many interpre- 
ters refer them to Judas, who was to go to the punishment 
he deserved. I rather, with other interpreters, refer them 
to the new-elected apostle, who was to take the place 
assigned him. 9 Expos, in loc. 

5. Knatchbull. This writer thinks it very proba- 
ble that Judas went to hell after death ; yet he says — 



182 SELECTIONS FROM 

' I cannot, for all that, think the evangelist had any 
such meaning in these words ; I rather, with Chrysostom, 
look upon the prudence of the man, how he speaks not 
contumelionsly , nor insults, fyc. Which plainly argues, 
that he thought not that it was the meaning of St. Luke, 
in these words, to adjudge Judas into hell; for what 
could he have said of Judas more contumelious, than 
that he was gone to his own place, meaning hell ? Neither 
was it the business of a historian or evangelist to inter- 
pose his own opinion, but rather to leave Judas to the 
judgment of God, it being enough for him to have related 
matter of fact, as he had promised and professed to do 
in the beginning of his gospel : — Even as they had delivered 
things unto us, who were eye-witnesses from the beginning, 
fyc. But who will you say was an eye-witness of Judas' 
going to, or being in hell V Annot. in Joe. 



SECTION LX. 



s Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted 
but ; when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto 
you/ — Acts iii. 19, 20. 

This has been supposed to imply that some will 
never repent, nor be saved. But however true it may 
be, that all must repent before they can enjoy salvation, 
yet in the opinion of the writers quoted below, this text 
affords no evidence that any man shall fail to obtain 
final salvation. It has special reference to circumstances 
existing and approaching in the apostolic age, and is 
not addressed to all men indiscriminately. 

1. Hammond. c Do you therefore amend your lives, 
that this may be pardoned, that so the second coming of 
Christ, so often spoken of, Matt, xxiv., for the delivery and 
rescue of all the faithful, (giving them rest from their 
troubles and persecutions, and a quiet possession of the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 183 

gospel,) but withal for the destruction of all the obdurate, 
(which is therefore foreshowed that all may repent,) 
may, by your repentance, become matter of advantage 
and comfort to you ; to which end it was, that he was 
at first sent to you Jews peculiarly, or that he is now 
preached unto you before that time, that if ye repent ye 
may have the benefit of it, but, if not, be destroyed with 
the obdurate.' Par. in loc. 

2. Elsley. 'Actsiii. 19, 20, and 2 Tim. i. 18, are 
quoted here by Whitby against purgatory, as relating to 
the day of judgment ; but the text in Acts, at least, seems 
to refer to the relief gained by the Christians after the 
Jews were destroyed. So Grotius and Hammond on 
that text. But see Whitby on the place.' Annot. in 
Matt. xii. 32, note. 

3. Kenrick. ' The repentance to which Peter here 
exhorts the Jews did not relate to their ill conduct in 
general, but only to one particular instance, the rejection 
of the Messiah. — These times of refreshing are supposed 
to refer to the ease and prosperity which the Jewish 
converts to Christianity would enjoy, when the persecu- 
tion of their countrymen ceased, upon the destruction of 
the Jewish state and government.' Expos, in loc. 

4. Grotius. ' Times of refreshing : as calamities are 
compared to heat, so deliverance from them is compared 
to refreshing breezes. The sense is this : repent, that 
ye may be exempted from the impending destruction of 
this nation.' Annot in loc. 

5. Calmet. ' This may be understood concerning the 
time of God's vengeance against the Jews, when the Ro- 
mans laid waste their city and temple, according to the 
prediction of Jesus Christ. Then the upright, faithful 
disciples of Christ enjoyed quiet and refreshment. The 
persecutions, which the Jews had never ceased to exer- 
cise against the rising church, were restrained, and, so 
far as these were concerned, all things were restored to 
a state of peace and tranquillity. St. Peter does not here 
speak of the persecutions which the church endured 
from the Gentiles, because his discourse had reference 
to the Jews only, and nothing had then been said respect-* 
ing the Gentiles.' Com. in loc. 



184 SELECTIOxXS FROM 



SECTION LXI. 



'Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other name 
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved/ — Acts iv. 12. 

The nature of the salvation here mentioned is thus 
described by the following writers : — 

1. Pearce. ' Neither is there salvation : rather, 
neither is there a cure by any other name. So the exorcists 
seem to have thought in chap. xix. 13. The salvation 
meant here was a temporal one, ver. 10.' 

1 Whereby we must be saved : rather, whereby ive must 
be healed, or made whole, as in ver. 10, i. e., by which such 
as want help for their recovery may obtain it. We : 
i. e., mankind in general. 5 Com. in loc. 

2. Whitby. ' Nor is there salvation by any other : 
this some interpret thus : There is no other name under 
heaven, by which health can be given to the diseased, or 
feet to the lame, &c. And this interpretation will not be 
in strange, as at first sight it seems to be, if we consider — 

6 1. That it is very frequent in the gospels to say of them 
who were cured, that they were saved. So the woman 
saith, Matt. ix. 21, If I do but touch the hem of his gar- 
ment, sothesomai, I shall be saved : and Christ answers, 
ver. 22, Thy faith, sesoke se, hath saved thee, kai esothe, 
and the woman was saved from that hour. So the ruler 
of the synagogue prays Christ to put his hand upon his 
daughter, opos sothe, that she might be saved, Mark v. 23 ; 
and chap. vi. 56, as many as touched the hem of his gar- 
ment, esozonto, were saved. So, to blind Bartimeus, 
Christ saith, thy faith, sesoke se, hath saved thee, Matt. x. 
52, and so to the Samaritan leper, Luke xvii. 19. 

1 2. That this opinion had obtained among the Jews, 
and other nations, that there were some powerful names 
that could cure diseases ; this seem to be insinuated in 
the question of the Sanhedrim, ver. 7, en to onomati, in 
what name have ye done this cure ? Josephus speaks of 
the doing this by mention of the name of Solomon ; the 
Talmud of doing it by mention of the separate name ; the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 1S5 

christians by the name of the God of Abraham, &c. See 
note on Matt. xii. '27. 

' 3. If we consider St. Peter's answer, viz., If the ques- 
tion be, en tint outos scsostai, by what name this man is 
saved, i. e., healed, be it known to you, that he is healed 
through the name of Jesus Christ, nor is there any other 
name by which we can be saved.' Annot in loc, 

3. Kexrick. ■ To be saved, in the New Testament, 
frequently signifies the same thing as to be cured. Thus 
Christ says more than once to persons upon whom he 
had performed miraculous cures, Thy faith hath saved 
thee. When Peter, therefore, says here, that there is 
salvation in no other name than that of Jesus, he means, 
that miraculous cures, or deliverance from bodily mala- 
dies, can be accomplished by no authority but his. This 
sense of the passage connects extremely well with the 
preceding circumstances, which cannot be said of the 
common interpretation, which supposes an eternal, and 
not a temporal deliverance to be here spoken of ; for 
Peter, being asked in what name the cure had been per- 
formed, replies, In the name of Jesus ; and adds, that 
such cures can be performed in no other name.' Expos, 
in loc. 

If the above-cited authors are right in the opinion 
they have expressed, it is very certain that this text has 
no reference to the endless salvation, or the endless 
damnation, of men. And it should be observed, that they 
do not give this as a mere speculation, as too many 
opinions in theological questions have been given, which 
have obtained extensive currency, but they appeal, in 
confirmation of it, to the common usage of the terms in 
question in the scriptures. Moreover, if the apostle 
did in fact speak of final salvation, the text contains no 
proof that any portion of mankind shall suffer endless 
misery. For if there be no other name by which we 
must be saved, it is equally true, that Jesus i gave him- 
self a ransom for all, 3 1 Tim. ii. 6, and ' tasted death 
for every man,' Heb. ii. 9, i and he is the propitiation 
for our sins, and not for ours onlv. but also for the sins 
16* 



186 SELECTIONS FROM 

of the whole world.' 1 John ii. 2. < He shall see of the 
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.' Isa. iii. 11. 



SECTION LXII. 



' Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the 
prophets 3 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish ; for I work a 
work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a 
man declare it unto you. 7 — -Acts xiii. 40, 41. 

I cannot discover what there is in this passage which 
can be supposed to imply torment after death, unless, 
perhaps, the word perish may have led men into the 
mistake. However, as I have seen the text used occa- 
sionally in proof that some shall be miserable in the 
future life, I offer the following quotations : — 

1. Hammond. 'You are therefore nearly concerned 
to take heed and beware, that by your obstinate resisting 
and rejecting this way of salvation, now preached and 
confirmed from heaven by God's raising Jesus from the 
dead, when ye had opposed and crucified him, you do 
not bring a remarkable astonishing destruction upon 
yourselves, in the same manner (and a heavier degree,) 
as it fell upon the Jews from the Chaldeans, Hab. i. 5, 
as a just punishment of their despising the rich mercies 
of God afforded them, and going on impenitently in their 
sins, against all the messages sent them by the pro- 
phets, and by so doing cause the gospel to be removed 
to the Gentiles, ver. 46, a thing which will come to pass 
suddenly, in both parts, (the gospel's being taken from 
you and preached to the Gentiles, and the Romans 
coming in and destroying you,) though so incredible to 
you that you will not believe it, when the news of it shall 
come unto you by them that see it done.' Par. in loc. 

2. Knatchbull. This author quotes, by way of 
illustration, 2 Kings xxi. 12, 14, and Hab. i. 5, 6 ; after 
which he remarks — 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 187 

c Without question, this denunciation of the prophet 
was here directed to the Jews, whom he here calls des- 
pisers, that they should behold, and with astonishment 
admire, the work of the Lord, which he was to do in their 
days ; so, as for very amazement and consternation, they 
should seek to hide themselves, and wish the very hills 
would come down and cover them from the dreadful 
wrath which was to come. And, lest this fate should 
now come again upon the Jews, the apostle bids them, in 
this place, beware — in the foregoing verse fore signifying 
the fearful destruction of Jerusalem, then near at hand.' 
Annot. in loc. 

3. Clarke. Beware — lest that come upon you, 8fc. ' If 
you reject these benefits, now freely offered to you in 
this preaching of Christ crucified, you may expect such 
judgments from the hand of God as your forefathers ex- 
perienced, when, for their rebellion and their contempt 
of his benefits, their city was taken, their temple de- 
stroyed, and themselves either slain by the sword, or 
carried into captivity. It is evident that St. Paul refers 
to Hab. i. 5 — 10, and in those verses the desolation by 
the Chaldeans is foretold. Never was there a prophecy 
more correctly and pointedly applied. Those Jews did 
continue to slight the benefits offered to them by the 
"Lord, and they persevered in their rebellions. What 
was the consequence? — The Romans came, took their 
city, burnt their temple, slew upwards of a million of 
them, and either carried or sold the rest of them into 
captivity. How exactly was the prophecy in both cases 
fulfilled !' Com. in loc. 

4. Pyle. ' The apostle seems clearly to intimate their 
final destruction by the Romans.' Note in loc. 

5. Rosenmuller. * Paul could very properly use 
these words, because the calamities which the Jews 
endured, after the days of Habakkuk, were similar to 
those now threatened them by the Romans — which, in- 
deed, should chiefly affect those living and rebelling in 
Palestine, but, in some degree, all the Jews in their dis- 
persion.' Scholia in loc. 

6. Grotius. ' Beware lest that happen to you which 
your fathers experienced — your city and temple being 



188 SELECTIONS FROM 

destroyed, and yourselves carried into captivity, on ac- 
count of your contemning the blessings of God.' Annot. 
in loe. 



SECTION LXIII. 

* Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold ; and said ; It was necessary that 
the word of God should first have been spoken to you : but seeing ye put 
it from you. and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn 
to the Gentiles;. For so hath the Lord commanded us. saying, I have set 
thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto 
the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, 
and glorified the word of the Lord : and as many as were ordained to 
eternal life, believed. 7 — Acts xiii. 46 — 48. 

1. Gilpin. 'The apostle, with great plainness, told 
them, that it was necessary for the gospel first to be 
preached to them, but, as they had hardened themselves 
against it, it should now, according to the prediction of 
the prophets, be offered to the Gentiles. When the Gen- 
tiles heard this, they glorified God ; and as many as were 
well disposed believed the gospel, which began now to 
spread through all the country. 

' The word tatto, in the original, may well signify dis- 
posed, or prepared for ; but the translators of our English 
Testament give many words a predestinarian sense, which 
there is no reason for.' Expos in loc. 

2. Heylin. Ver. 46, ' Judge yourselves unworthy of eter- 
nal life : this eternal life consists in the experimental 
knowledge of God and Christ, as St. John xvii. 3. Those 
who think themselves not capable of such knowledge in 
the present state, judge themselves unworthy of it. Ver. 
48, in a fit disposition, [common translation, ordained,] 
literal, in a rank, in a fit temper or disposition, to enter 
into that spiritual life which is rightly called eternal ; for 
justice is immortal, see, too, ver. 46, they were euthetoi, 

well disposed, Luke ix. 62, therefore tetagmenoi, ranked.' 
Lee. in loc. 

3. Knatchbull. After noticing and condemning the 
common translation of ver. 48, as ' harsh and unnatural,' 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 189 

Knatchbull remarks — ' That, therefore, this place may 
bring no weight to the establishing of so controverted a 
sense, of winch there will never be an end of disputing 
till EUas come, why may not these words be better dis- 
tinguished and translated thus — and as many as were 
met together believed in eternal life. The Jews held them- 
selves unworthy of eternal life, by putting the word of 
God from them, ver. 46. But the Gentiles, when they 
heard it, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, 
and as many as were met together believed in eternal life.'' 
Annot. in loc. % 

4. Pyle. ' The Gentile people received this with 
the utmost degree of religious joy and gratitude, and all 
among them that were of a sober disposition, and sin- 
cerely desirous to know the true religion, believed, and em- 
braced the gospel. 

1 Ordained to eternal life: that this phrase signified 
no other than what I have paraphrased it, and has not 
the least relation to any absolute and unconditionate di- 
vine decree of these persons to eternal life, is so evidently 
and copiously demonstrated, by ail good critics and in- 
terpreters upon this place, that I may well venture to 
tell the English reader, in the words of Grotius — He that 
seeth it not is blind.'* Par. in loc. 

5. Clarke. ' As many as were ordained to eternal life 
believed. This text has been most pitifully misunderstood. 
Though the word in this place has been variously trans- 
lated, yet, of all the meanings ever put on it, none agrees 
worse with its nature and known signification, than that 
which represents it as intending those who were predes- 
tinated to eternal life : this is no meaning of the term, 
and should never be applied to it.' Com. in loc. 

The quotation from Heylin's lectures I think gives 
the true sense of this passage. The others are inserted 
to show, that they who suppose the eternal life, here 
mentioned, to mean a state of endless happiness, disallow 
the notion, (which some would support from this text,) 
that God has elected certain persons to the enjoyment 
of that life, and reprobated others to endless exclusion 



190 SELECTIONS FROM 

from it. Knatchbull's interpretation is certainly an un- 
common one, though he defends it at considerable length, 
and offers several reasons in proof of its correctness. 
His arguments need not here be quoted. By the com- 
mon consent of all the forecited authors, the text in ques- 
tion affords no proof that any portion of mankind shall 
be c ceist off forever ;' but, for aught which appears to 
the contrary, God may ' have compassion according to 
the multitude of his mercies. 5 Lam. iii. 32. 



SECTIOX LXIV. 



' Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue 
in the faith, and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the 
kingdom of God. ; — Acts xiv. 22. 

That this passage (though sometimes quoted to im- 
ply the danger of being finally lost by reason of the im- 
pediments to be encountered,) has no relation whatever 
to the future life, may be seen from what folknvs : — 

1. Hammond. 'And in all those cities gave confirma- 
tion to those whom before they had baptised, and ex- 
horted them to persevere, and hold out against all ter- 
rors, counting and resolving with themselves, that Chris- 
tianity bringeth many tribulations necessary along with 
it.' Par. in loc. 

2. Pearce. 'Through much tribulation enter, fyc: i. e., 
that those, who would at that time embrace the gospel of 
Jesus, must expect to meet with great troubles and op- 
positions. The gospel is called by this title in chap. i. 3, 
and viii. 12, and elsewhere.' Com. in loc. 

3. Pyle. ' To confirm and settle the new converts in 
courage and patience, under those hardships, which he 
told them, by his own example, and the very nature of 
the christian religion, (that was levelled against the vices 
and prejudices of mankind,) they could not but expect 
to meet withal.' Par. in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 191 

4. Rosenmuller. ' The kingdom of God, in this place, 
as very frequently elsewhere, signifies the community of 
those who worship God in this world — the christian com- 
munity. He who becomes a christian enters this com- 
munity. The tribulations are to be understood as those 
which are undergone on account of religion. Hence, the 
apostles took occasion to admonish the new converts, 
that these tribulations, on account of religion, should be 
patiently borne, even as they exhorted them to constancy. 
Concerning other miseries of life, which are not connected 
with religion, nothing is said in this place.' Scholia in lor. 



SECTION LXV. 



1 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved V— • 
Acts xvi. 30. 

It is often said, that this jailer here inquired how he 
should obtain everlasting salvation ; and, from this inquiry 
and the answer of Paul, it is argued, that men will not 
be saved under certain circumstances. There are some, 
however, who believed in punishment in the future life, 
who have given a different view of the case. 

1. Rosenmuller. ' It is not credible, that this man, a 
pagan, should have been concerned about eternal salva- 
tion. To be saved, therefore, will signify, as in any other 
language, to consult his safety. The keeper of the prison 
feared, lest he should be punished by the gods, because 
he had harshly treated men so venerable, and dear to God. 
He inquired, therefore, what he should do, that he might 
not be punished by God. Whether, indeed, the keeper 
of the prison had obtained any hope of a better life, from 
ancient tradition, or from the wisdom of the philosophers, 
or whether he had ever before this heard Paul preaching, 
is uncertain.' Scholia m loc. 

2. Wakefield. The passage is thus translated by 



192 SELECTIONS FROM 

Wakefield : — c and led them out, and said, Sirs, what must 
I do to be safe ?' He adds this note : — 

4 To be safe: viz., to avoid punishment for what has be- 
fallen the prisoners and the prison; not doubting but 
those men, who had occasioned such extraordinary events, 
could deliver him from the power of his superiors. This 
is, beyond all doubt, the sense of the passage, though 
Paul, in his reply, uses the words in a more extensive sig- 
nification — a practice common in these writings.' Note 
in loc. 

3. Kenrick. ' In asking this question, " What shall I 
do to be saved V* or to be safe, the jailer, who had pro- 
bably never heard of a future life of happiness or misery, 
as preached by the apostles, referred entirely to his per- 
sonal security, about which he was naturally alarmed, in 
consequence of the earthquake which had shaken the 
house to its foundations, and opened the doors of the 
prison. The answer of Paul and Silas, therefore, assur- 
ing him, that if he would believe in Christ he should be 
safe, and his house, must refer to the same subject. In 
the circumstances in which the parties were placed, this 
was the natural and obvious meaning of the question 
and reply, and the interpretation is confirmed by the 
language of the apostles on a variety of occasions. To 
deliverance from Jewish superstition and heathen idola- 
try, by embracing Christianity, they uniformly apply the 
term, salvation, or being saved. Thus we are told, that 
God will have all men to be saved, and brought to the 
knowledge of the truth, where the latter expression ex- 
plains what is meant by the former. The principal idea 
included in this salvation was evidently a deliverance 
from ignorance, superstition, and false worship ; but it 
seems, also, to have been connected with a deliverance 
from temporal calamities ; for with such calamities, we 
know that the Jews were threatened, and actually visited, 
for their rejection of the gospel, while those who em- 
braced it were preserved safe. On this ground, the 
apostle Peter, Acts ii. 40, exhorts his countrymen to save 
themselves from this untoward generation. To similar 
evils, the heathen world might likewise be exposed, if 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 193 

they acted in like manner ; with evils of this nature, the 
jailer was evidently threatened, when, on account of his 
severity to the preachers of the gospel, his house was 
shaken from the foundations. They might, therefore, 
with propriety, tell him, that if he believed in Christ, 
both he and his family would escape danger. This, in- 
deed, was not the whole, or principal benefit, which he 
would derive from his faith, but it was all about which he 
inquired. 

' I have dwelt the longer upon this passage, because the 
interpretation given is unusual, and may, probably, to 
some, appear harsh ; but I am persuaded, that a proper 
consideration of the occasion, and of the usual language 
of the apostles, will reconcile the mind of the attentive 
inquirer to it.' Expos, in loc. 



SECTION LXVI. 



1 And the times of this ignorance God winked at 5 but now commandeth 
all men every where to repent : Because he hath appointed a day, in the 
which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he 
hath ordained : whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he 
hath raised him from the dead. 7 — Acts xvii. 30, 31. 

J. Cappe. 6 Here the term judge signifies to rule. The 
connexion leads to this idea : God overlooking, so as not 
to punish, by withholding greater advantages from those 
who had made so little use of less, overlooking the times 
of ignorance, superstition, and idolatry, (see ver. 23, 25, 
27, 29,) now no longer leaves men to seek after him 
in his works, (see ver. 27,) but addressing himself to 
them more directly, and instructing them in a more per- 
fect and efficacious manner, calls not only, as formerly, 
upon the Jews, when he brought them up out of the land 
of Egypt, and gave them a peculiar law, but upon all 
men, every where, to turn themselves from ritual obser- 
vances, from superstition and idolatry, to serve him, the 
living and true God, in spirit and in truth, (see ver. 24, 
17 



194 SELECTIONS FROM 

25, 29, and also chap. xiv. 15, and 1 Thess. i. 9, and John 
iv. 21, &c); for which purpose he appointed a season^ 
and it is now come, during which he will rule the world in 
righteousness ; he will, according to the truth and mercy 
which constitute his character, fulfil his promises in the 
revelation of himself, and of his will unto mankind, by 
the gospel preached to them, with the Holy Spirit sent 
down from heaven, presenting unto all men sufficient 
ground of faith in the Man whom he foreordained to be the 
light of the world, and whose character was predescribed 
by him, in as much as, by the Holy Ghost accompanying 
the witnesses of his doctrine, and of hisj^resurrection, he 
avows himself to be well pleased in him, and testifies it 
to be an indubitable fact, that after he had laid down his 
life, in attestation of his doctrine, he raised him from the 
dead.' Crit. Rem. vol i. pp. 207—211. 

2. Macknight. ' In the Hebrew language, to judge 
signifies to rule, or govern. Thus, Judges, xii. KfjTeptha 
judged Israel twelve years ; 1 Sam. viii. 5, make us a king 
to judge us, like all the nations. Wherefore, by the apostles 
sitting on thrones, judging the tribes, maybe understood, 
their ruling the christian church, of which the Jewish 
was a type, by the laws of the gospel, which their Master 
inspired them to preach, and by the infallible decisions, 
relative to faith and manners, which he enabled them to 
give in all difficult cases : such seems to have been the 
dignity which Jesus promised to his apostles.' Harm. 
Evan. Sec. 104, in Matt. xix. 28. 

The quotation from Macknight is offered merely in 
confirmation of what is said by Cappe, relative to the 
signification of the word judge. By the concurring tes- 
timony of these writers, it appears that the text may 
have legitimate application to the affairs of the present 
life, and consequently that we need not go into the 
future existence to find the time of its fulfilment. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 195 



SECTION LXV1I. 



* And as lie reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
come, Felix trembled.' — x\cts xxiv. 25. 

The only direct admission, by any orthodox commen- 
tator, in relation to this text, which I have found, is the 
following, from Dr. Haweis. As I have not his, com- 
mentatary at hand, I copy the passage from the c Trum- 
pet,' where it appeared a few years since. I copy also 
certain remarks of the editor : — 

1 This passage has been brought forward frequently, to 
prove the doctrine of a judgment in a future state. It has 
more especially been a subject of controversy, of late, 
between Messrs. Balfour and Hudson. The remarks of 
the latter may be found in his letters, pp. 129 — 131, and 
in his reply. Mr. Balfour's views may be found in his 
essays, pp. 278 — 286, and in his letters, pp. 123 — 134. 
Suffice it to say here, that Mr. Balfour maintained, that 
the proper translation of the passage was as follows : — 
" And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and 
judgment about to come, Felix trembled." This rendering 
was supported by the criticisms of Campbell and Park- 
hurst. 

1 It is a fact with which we were not, until lately, ac- 
quainted, that the celebrated Dr. Haweis, in his transla- 
tion of the New Testament, has rendered the passage in 
the same manner. The following is his version of it : — 

1 " And as he discoursed of righteousness, and tempe- 
rance, and the judgment which is ready to be revealed, 
Felix, being greatly terrified, replied," &c. 

6 This Dr. Haweis (continues the editor of the " Trum- 
pet,") was as warmly devoted to orthodox notions as 
ever man was ; and he therefore cannot be accused of 
translating the above passage through any bias in favor 
of system. He says, in his preface, " I have endeavored 
to render every passage with the most literal exactness — 
to use the most forcible and clear expressions corres* 
ponding with the original — not to omit a particle — pre« 



196 SELECTIONS FROM 

serving the participles, and following, as much as the 
genius of our tongue will permit, the exact order of the 
Greek words, persuaded that, thus placed, the sense often 
receives clearness and energy.' Trumpet, vol. iii. p. 79. 



SECTION LXVIII. 



'Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such 
things are worthy of death 3 not only do the same, but have pleasure in 
them that do them. 7 — Rom. i. 32. 

The death here mentioned is, by some, explained to 
mean endless punishment in the future life. But there 
is sufficient orthodox authority for giving it a very differ- 
ent interpretation. The authors I shall quote under- 
stand death to be the death of the natural body. 

1. Whitby. ? That murder, adultery, and unnatural 
lusts, deserved death, they knew, not only by the light of 
nature, and of conscience, but by their own laws condemn- 
ing them who did them to death. That all these sins, 
being species of iniquity, condemned by the law of na- 
ture, rendered them obnoxious to the displeasure of that 
God, who is the Governor of the world, and the Avenger 
of all unrighteousness, and so obnoxious to death for 
violating the laws he had given them, to govern themselves 
by — they might know by the light of nature. 5 Annot. in 
loc. 

2. Macknight. ■ God hath written on the hearts of 
men, not only his law, but the sanction of his law ; 
for the fear of punishment "is inseparable from the con- 
sciousness of guilt. Farther, that the heathens knew 
that the persons, guilty of the crimes mentioned by the 
apostle, merited death, is evident from the laws which 
they enacted for punishing such persons with death.' 
Note in loc. 

3. Grotius. 'There are certain crimes, which, by 
common consent, are allowed to deserve death. See 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 197 

Acts xiii. 28, xxiii. 29, xxv. 11, 25, xxvi. 31, xxviii. 18. 
Such are murder, adultery, and unnatural lusts, to which 
these words refer.' Annot. in loc. 



SECTION LXIX. 

1 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, 
and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God 1 Or de- 
spisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long suffer- 
ing 5 not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ? 
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, tr3asurest up wrath against 
the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. ; — Rom. 
ii. 3—5. 

This passage is considered, by orthodox commentators 
generally, to imply punishment after death ; yet at least 
one believer in the doctrine of retribution in the future 
life, for the deeds performed on earth, gives a different 
view of it. 

Cappe. i Here repentance manifestly signifies that 
which was to save from the wrath to come, and ought to 
be compared with the second epistle of Peter, third 
chapter, which undoubtedly refers to the dissolution of 
the Jewish state, &c.' Crit. Rem. vol. i. pp. 136, 137. 

I add, only, that not a word is found here respect- 
ing the duration of the punishment which might be ad- 
judged to transgressors ; so that, even if the text were 
allowed to relate to the future life, the doctrine of endless 
misery could derive no support from it. But then it 
should be remembered, that there ( is a God that judgeth 
in the earth,' (Ps. lviii. 11.) Our Saviour declared, ( for 
judgment I am come into this w r orld,' (John ix. 39,) 
and again, (John xii. 31,) c now is the judgment of this 
world.' Hence it would seem, that the revelation of 
God's righteous' judgment may as rationally be expected 
in the present life as in the future. 
17* 



198 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION LXX. 

< But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey 
unrighteousness 3 indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon 
every soul of man that doeth evil 5 of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile : 
But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good 5 to the 
Jew first, and also to the Gentile : For there is no respect of persons with 
God. For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without 
law : and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law/ 
— Rom. ii. 8—12. 

Most of the orthodox commentators agree in sup- 
posing this passage to indicate punishment after death. 
The reader will observe, however, that the apostle says 
nothing here of the endless continuance of punishment, 
nor even one word denoting the time of its infliction to 
be in the future life ; but the whole passage, to say the 
least, may just as easily be understood to have relation 
to the present life, as to the future. If any suppose the 
word perish must denote misery in the future life, let 
him consult the notes on 1 Cor. i. 18, and 2 Cor. ii. 
15, 16. I quote the testimony of a standard critic, who 
allows, that although this passage may be understood as 
descriptive of torment after death, yet it may also be 
fairly interpreted to refer to punishments administered in 
the present life. 

Grotius. ' Although what is here said may properly 
apply to the punishments of another life, yet God chooses 
more speedily to manifest, in a signal manner, his sever- 
ity against the contumacious : against the Romans, by 
subjecting them to the worst species of tyrrany, and to 
bloody civil wars ; and against the Jews, by utterly cast- 
ing them out from their native land, and abolishing their 
political and ecclesiastical privileges.' Annot. in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 199 



SECTION LXXI. 



1 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? 
for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, 
and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end 
everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death : but the gift of God is 
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord/— Rom. vi. 21—23. 

Many have insisted, that the death here mentioned 
is eternal death, or endless misery, not considering the 
contradiction thus involved, inasmuch as the same per- 
sons both endured the death, and enjoyed the life. Of 
the writers quoted below, the two first understand, by 
death, the unhappy consequences of sin in the present 
life, as is evident from their representing the persons, of 
whom the apostle speaks, as having already endured the 
evil ; the last seems to understand the word to mean 
an utter extinction of being — annihilation — from which 
men are to be saved by the grace of God, through Jesus 
Christ. But neither of them appear to have had the 
least idea, that the apostle was speaking of torment after 
death. 

1. Gilpin. 'Take then a review of your lives, and 
consider whether any advantages accrued from sin, which 
were equivalent to its consequences — whether any of its 
enjoyments could counterbalance misery and death. — 
Consider, also, whether you have any reason to repent of 
these new engagements, which lead you, through a life of 
holiness, to everlasting happiness.' Expos, in loc. 

2. Diodati. ' Consider what was the reward you had 
of your bondage then ; it was nothing but death : there- 
fore, by the lamentable and horrible state that you were 
in then, you may judge what a happy state you are now 
brought into, to cleave unto the one, and altogether fly 
the other.' Annot. in ver. 21. 

3. Halle t. ' The icages of sin is death — eternal 
death in the grave, without hope of a resurrection ; but 
the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord.' Notes, S?c., vol. i. p. 325. 



200 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION LXXII. 

' As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 7 — Rom. 
ix. 13. 

The time has been, when these words were quoted, 
as affording incontrovertible proof, that some men are 
elected to endless happiness, and others reprobated to 
endless misery. I might quote orthodox testimonies to 
the contrary almost indefinitely ; the following, however, 
may suffice : — 

1. Hammond. ' According to the prediction of the 
elder's serving the younger, Mai. i. 2, 3, which, though 
it had been true in their persons — Jacob getting away the 
birthright first, then the prime blessing from Esau — yet it 
had not its primary completion in their persons, (it no 
way appearing probable, that Esau did, in his person, 
forsake the true God, and fall off to idols,) but had its 
principal and full accomplishment in their posterities, 
of whom Malachi hath delivered it from God, long after 
the death of both their persons, that God preferred the 
Israelites before the Edomites,' &c. Par. in loc. 

2. Gilpin. * It is plain, the everlasting state of Jacob 
and Esau, as individuals, is not here even hinted at.' 
Note in loc. 

3. Whitby. ' It is evident that the apostle speaks not 
here of the persons, but of the nations and posterity, of 
Jacob and Esau ; or, not of them personally, but nation- 
ally considered.' Annot. in loc. 

4. Locke. ' These words are to be taken in a na- 
tional sense, for the preference God gave to the posterity 
of one of them, to be his people, and possess the pro- 
mised land before the other.' Note in loc. 

5. Clarke. ' It incontestibly appears, from these pas- 
sages, that the prophet does not speak at all of the per- 
son of Jacob or Esau, but of their respective posterities. 
Now, if the prophet speaks neither of the person of the 
one, nor of the person of the other, but of their posterity 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 201 

only, then it is evident that the apostle speaks of them in 
the same way? Com. in loc. 



SECTION LXXIII. 



1 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, 
endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruc- 
tion. 7 — Rom. ix. 22. 

When the doctrine of election and vreprobation was 
in its glory, this was a very popular proof-text. And 
now" that that doctrine is, as much as possible, kept out 
of sight, by those in whose creeds it exists, yet the text 
is often alleged in proof of endless misery in the.future 
life. The following named writers, however, assert, that 
the apostle had no special reference to individuals, but 
was speaking of the national rejection of the Jews : — 

1. M ACKNIGHT. ' The apostle, by giving the Jews the 
appellation of vessels of ivrath, fitted for destruction, 
carries on the similitude of the potter, by which he had 
illustrated God's sovereignty in his dealings with nations, 
ver. 21. For as a potter, when he finds that a vessel which 
he hath made does not answer the use he intended it 
for, casts it from him in anger, and breaks it, and hath a 
just title so to do — God, in like manner, was about to 
cast the Jewish nation away, and to destroy it in his dis- 
pleasure ; and he had a right so to do, on account of its 
idolatries and rebellions, and more especially for their 
crucifying Christ.' Note in loc. 

2. Locke. ' The apostle, by the instance of a potter's 
power over his clay, having demonstrated, that God, by 
his dominion and sovereignty, had a right to set up or 
pull down what nation be pleased, and might, without 
any injustice, take one race into his particular favor, to 
be his peculiar people, or reject them, as he thought fit — 
does, in this verse, apply it to the subject in hand, viz., 
the casting off the Jewish nation, whereof he speaks here, 



202 SELECTIONS FROM 

in terms that plainly make a parallel between this and 
his dealing with the Egyptians mentioned, ver. 17/ &c. 
Note in I or.. 

3. Gilpin. ' Suppose God, to make his indignation 
against sin the more exemplary, hath reserved the im- 
penitent Jews, to be punished in one general or national 
rejection,' &c. Expos, in loc. 

4. Clarke. ' As the Jews of the apostle's time had 
sinned, after the similitude of the Egyptians, hardening 
their hearts, and abusing his goodness, after every dis- 
play of his long-suffering kindness — being now fitted for 
destruction, they were now ripe for punishment; and 
that power, which God was making known for their sal- 
vation, having been so long, and so much, abused and 
provoked, was now about to show itself in their destruc- 
tion as a nation. But, even in this case, there is not a 
word of their final damnation; much less, that either 
they, or any others, were, by a sovereign decree, repro- 
bated from all eternity, and that their very sins, the prox- 
imate cause of their punishment, were the necessary 
effect of that decree which had, from all eternity, doom- 
ed them to endless torments. As such a doctrine could 
never come from God, so it never can be found in the 
words of his apostle.' Com. in Joe. 

5. Whitby. ' What injustice, therefore, is it, in God, to 
deal with you as he dealt with an hardened Pharaoh, you 
having as oft refused to hearken to his voice, as Pharaoh 
did ? Or, what if he long hath, and still at present bears 
with, such vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction, till in a 
more illustrious manner, and with more signal marks of 
his displeasure, for thus rejecting the gospel and the 
promised Messiah, he swallow up their nation, their 
people, their temple, and their holy city, in one general 
destruction 1 Is it not for the glory of the divine power 
and wisdom, to reserve the rejectors of the Messiah sent 
to bless them, and the persecutors of the Christian faith, 
to be at last cut off with such a remarkable destruction, 
as shall render it visible to the world, that God's indigna- 
tion is incensed against them for this sin, and so shall 
give to Jew and Gentile a farther motive to believe in 
Jesus V Annot. in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 203 

6. Grotius. ' Willing to show his seventy and power 
against the impious Jews, in the judgments executed by 
the Romans ; for the apostle here intends the desolation 
predicted by Daniel and by Christ.' Annot. in loc. 



SECTION LXXIV. 



' Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of 
God : and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.' — Rom, 
xiii. 2. 

It seems to be a strange notion, that a man should incur 
endless damnation by resisting the authority of the civil 
government ; yet several of the old commentators, and 
some among the more recent, have attempted to prove 
that such is the fact, by the text. Whether any among 
the orthodox hold this opinion now, or whether they ad- 
mit, that, in this case, damnation does not imply misery 
after death — as this word is so often alleged as proof 
of endless misery, it may be well to quote the opinion 
of a few commentators in regard to its import. 

1. Whitby. ' They shall be sentenced, punished, and 
condemned for it 5 by the magistrate, who is a terror to all 
evil works. So the word hrima signifies in these words, 
fearest not thou God, seeing thou art, en auto Jcrimati, 
under the same sentence of condemnation by the magis- 
trates, Luke xxiii. 40. See note on chap. v. 16. And to 
this sense the connexion inclines — he shall receive sen- 
tence or punishment (from the rulers,) for rulers are a 
terror to evil works ; if, therefore, thou doest evil, be 
afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, but is an 
avenger of wrath. Or, if he escape the hands of the 
magistrate, he shall be punished by that God, whose min- 
ister and ordinance the power he resisteth is ; this follows 
from the obligation to be subject, not only out of wrath, 
but also from conscience towards God. But hence it 
does not follow that he must be damned, as that imports 



204 



SELECTIONS FROM 



his being sentenced by God to eternal torments ; it fol- 
lows not from the word krima, (in the text translated 
damnation,) seeing that, in its literal import, signifies 
judgment, and no more, and sometimes is applied to 
human judgments,' &c. Annot. in loc. 

2. Locke. ' So that he who resisteth the power re- 
sisteth the ordinance of God : and they that resist will be 
punished by those powers that they resist.' Par. in loc. 

2. Clarke. c Shall receive* to themselves damnation : 
krima, condemnation; shall be condemned both by the 
spirit and letter of that constitution, which, under pre- 
tence of defending or improving, they are indirectly 
laboring to subvert.' Com. in loc. 

4. Wakefield. c Whosoever, therefore, setteth him- 
self against the power, he opposeth the appointment of 
God ; and such opposers will bring punishment upon 
themselves.' Trans, in loc. 

5. Grotius. ' Shall receive to themselves damnation : 
not less than those who opposed themselves to the Sanhe- 
drim, Deut. xviii. 12, or to the king, 1 Kings ii. 42, or to 
their parents, Deut. xxi. IS.' Annot. in loc. 

By referring to the places here cited, the reader will 
perceive, that the damnation, or punishment inflicted, 
was the death of the body. Hence it appears to have 
been the opinion of Grotius, that such is the nature of 
the damnation, or punishment, mentioned by the apostle 
in this place. 



SECTION LXXV. 



1 But why dost thou judge thy brother ? or why dost thou set at nought 
thy brother ? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.' — 
Rom. xiv. 10. 

As far as my examination has extended, all the ortho- 
dox critics suppose the judgment here indicated shall be 
in the future life. There are one or two circumstances, 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 205 

however, to which I ask the reader's attention. (1 ; ) It 
is not said here, that a single soul shall be punished at 
the judgment ; perhaps, however, this may be implied^ 
inasmuch as punishment seems to be indicated in a 
similar passage, 2 Cor. v. 10. But, (2,) in those pas- 
sages where Jesus plainly asserts he will reward and 
punish men according to their deeds, some of the ortho- 
dox critics allow that the judgment was in this world. 
See notes on Matt. xvi. 27, 28, xxv. 31 — 46, &c. See 
also Clarice's note on Matt. x. 15, Whitby on Rom. 
xiii. 2, and Cappe on Acts xvii. 31. 

Under such circumstances, I see nothing which neces- 
sarily requires this text to be interpreted with reference 
to another life. By their own admission, Jesus does 
judge and punish men in this life ; what necessity is 
there, then, for understanding this text to relate to the 
future existence ? 



SECTION LXXVI. 

1 Hast thou faith ? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that con- 
demneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubt- 
eth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith : for whatsoever 
is not of faith, is sin. ? — Rom. xiv. 22, 23. 

The phrase, to be damned, is considered by many as 
necessarily implying the idea of endless misery. Hence, 
some have thought this text afforded proof that a portion 
of mankind shall be miserable in the future life. But, 
from the following quotations, it will be seen, that others 
interpret it differently. 

1. Gilpin. 'Be satisfied, then, with the liberty you 
allow yourselves : only be careful, that religion and con- 
science allow it likeAvise ; for, in all cases of this kind, 
doubt is guilt. 

•Our translation expresses the original too strongly. 
18 



206 SELECTIONS FROM 

He that doubtcth is damned if he eat. The apostle only 
means to express the wrongness of any action about 
which we doubt. Damned should be translated con- 
demned; or, in his own conscience, convicted.' Expos. 
Note in loc. 

2. Wynne. ' He that maketh a difference [doubteth] 
between clean and unclean food, is condemned by his 
conscience, if he eat/ &c. Note in loc. 

3. Gill. ' Damned: not with everlasting damnation, 
which is not the consequent of, nor connected with, such 
an action, as eating of a thing indifferent, with a scru- 
pulous conscience ; but such a one is condemned in his 
own conscience.' Expos, in loc. 

4. Clarke. 4 He that doubteth : this verse is a ne- 
cessary part of the preceding, and should be read thus : 
but he that doubteth is condemned, if he eat, because he 
eateth not of faith. The meaning is sufficiently plain. 
He that feeds on any kind of meats prohibited by the 
Mosaic law, with the persuasion in his mind, that he may 
be wrong in so doing, is condemned by his conscience 
for doing that which he has reason to think God has for- 
bidden.' Com. in loc. 

5. Grotius. 'Is damned: that is, by himself.' Annot* 
in loc. 

In this short note, Grotius has sufficiently expressed 
his opinion concerning the damnation, or condemnation, 
mentioned in the text, and he fully agrees with the other 
writers quoted, in supposing it to be merely the condem- 
nation of one's self by his own conscience. 



SECTION LXXVII. 



'For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness 3 
but unto us which are saved ; it is the power of God. 7 — 1 Cor. i. 18. 

The void perish, which here occurs, has been sup- 
posed, by some, to indicate misery in the future existence. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 207 

But, from the quotations which follow, it will appear to 
be admitted, that saved and perish, in this place, merely 
indicate the different situations of believers and unbe- 
lievers in this life. Those who are saved, are ' saved 
from their sins and prejudices ; ? while those who are not 
thus saved, are said to be perishing. But all this was 
experienced in the present life. 

1. Hammond. ' For the preaching a crucified Saviour, 
requiring belief in him, obedience to him, who was shame- 
fully put to death, and believing on whom may probably 
bring the same on us, may seem a ridiculous thing to im- 
penitent unbelievers ; but to us,who have come into Christ 
by repentance and faith, it is the most glorious evidence 
of the power of God.' Par. in loc. 

See also Hammond's note on Luke xiii. 23, quoted in 
its place. 

2. Gilpin. * The simplicity of the cross, indeed, which 
hath ever been my subject, though it is the great founda- 
tion of all our hopes, is little understood by worldly men.' 
Expos, in loc. 

3. Pearce. c The account and doctrine of the cross 
is looked upon by unbelievers, who are in a perishing 
condition, as a foolish doctrine ; human eloquence cannot 
move and convince them to it : but they who are saved, 
i. e., the christian converts — those who profess Christi- 
anity — know and see, that our preaching, both by reason 
of the wide spreading of it, and because of the miracles 
which accompany it, is no less than the power of God,' 
Par. in loc. 

4. Pyle. ' This plain and clear article of a crucified 
Saviour looks, indeed, to obstinate unbelievers, men con- 
ceited of their philosophical speculations, and proud of 
their own learning, like a ridiculous and mean method of 
salvation and happiness. But to all christians, who have 
duly considered and embraced it, it appears the most 
effectual that can be for the honor of God, and the benefit 
of sinful mankind.' Par. in loc. 

5. Horne. On the subject of election, and < indefect* 



203 SELECTIONS FROM 

ability from grace/ Home remarks, that certain c pas- 
sages have no relation whatever to the doctrine of elec- 
tion ; and that if the translators of our authorised ver- 
sion had rendered the original of Acts ii. 47, literally, 
as they have done in other parts of the New Testament, 
it would have run thus : the Lord added daily to the 
church tous sozomenous, the saved ; that is, those who 
were saved from their sins and prejudices ; and so the 
passage is rendered by Drs. Whitby and Doddridge, and 
other eminent critics and divines.' In a note, he adds : — 

'It is worthy of remark, that the participle sozomenous 
occurs in four other places of the New Testament, in all 
which, our translators give the true meaning. These are 
Luke xiii. 23, are there few that be saved? — 1 Cor. i. 18, 
but unto us which are saved. — 2 Cor. ii. 15, in them that 
are saved. — Rev. xxi. 24, the nations of them which are 
saved. In none of these instances have the translators 
given the forced and arbitrary meaning above noticed, 
and no reason can be assigned why they should have so 
rendered Acts ii. 47.' Intro, fyc. vol. ii. 684. 

The obvious import of Home's note is, that in the 
passage under consideration, (for he quotes this among 
others,) those who are saved are the persons who, when 
the apostles wrote, ' were saved from their sins and pre- 
judices ;' and consequently, those that perish are those 
who then remained in ' their sins and prejudices.' Thus 
he, like the other authors quoted, explains the whole text 
with reference to a state of things existing on the earth, 
and not to a state which shall exist in the future life. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 209 



SECTION LXXVIII. 



1 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of 
God 1 Be not deceived ; neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, 
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, 
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit 
the kingdom of God. And such were some of you : but ye are washed, 
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
and by the Spirit of our God.'~l Cor. vi. 9 — 11. 

This passage has been triumphantly quoted as afford- 
ing proof, that such persons as are here described shall 
never be saved. But it should be remembered, (1,) 
That the kingdom of God frequently indicates the privi- 
leges of the gospel in this life, rather than endless hap- 
piness in the next ; and this may be its signification here. 
See notes on Matt. hi. 2, John iii. 3, 5, and other pas- 
sages where this phrase occurs. (2,) That the text itself 
contains proof, that those who have sustained this char- 
acter may, nevertheless, on repentance, enter the king- 
dom, as the persons addressed already had done ; so that, 
whatever this kingdom may indicate, before it can be 
shown from the text, that some shall never enter it, it 
must first be proved, that they shall never repent. The 
quotations below plainly recognize the fact, that persons 
of such vile characters are excluded from the kingdom 
no longer than until they repent. 

1. Dutch Annotations. ■ Namely, except they repent, 
and leave off to be such any more, as the following verse 
imports.' Annot. in ver. 10. 

2. Gilpin. ' But I fear there is great wrongness of 
practice among you ; and, together with the impurities of 
which I have just been speaking, there are excesses of 
another kind — covetousness, extortion, and dishonesty — 
which equally exclude you from all hopes of inheriting 
the blessings of the gospel. Once, no doubt, many of 
you were deeply immersed in all these vices ; but you 
should consider, that you have been called to a state of 
holiness, and that you have been baptized and sancti- 
fied through the Holy Spirit.' Expos, in loc. 

*18 



210 SELECTIONS FROM 

3. Calmet. c The kingdom of heaven is not to be 
hoped for by those who have been guilty of such sins, 
unless they shall expiate them by true repentence.' Com. 
in loc. 

4. Clarke. ' There are here ten classes of transgres- 
sors, which the apostle excludes from the kingdom of 
God ; and any man, who is guilty of any one of the evils 
mentioned above, is thereby excluded from this kingdom, 
whether it imply the church of Christ here below, or the 
state of glory hereafter.' Com. in loc. 

Thus does Dr. Clarke allow, that the kingdom may 
probably mean ' the church of Christ here below.' And, 
in his notes on the subsequent verse, (11th,) he allows, 
that those who are thus guilty shall, on repentance, be 
admitted into the kingdom, whatever that kingdom may 
be. 



SECTION LXXIX. 



* And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom 
Christ died ?'— i Cor. viii. 11. 

Here again we have the word perish, w T hich has been 
supposed to indicate misery after death. See the notes 
on chap. i. 18, and 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. The writers 
quoted below understand this word to denote a state of 
inconvenience and affliction in this life, and not a state 
of torment in the next. 

Gilpin. 1. c Is there no offence, in contradicting the 
whole scheme of your redemption, by leading your bro- 
ther into sin, from which Christ died to redeem him V 
Expos in loc. 

2. Gill. ' The perishing of this weak brother is to be 
understood of his peace and comfort, and is explained 
by defiling his conscience, ver. 7, by wounding it, ver. 12, 
and making him to offend, ver. 13, through an imprudent 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 211 

use of christian liberty in those who had the greater 
knowledge, and by a participation of things offered unto 
idols in an idol's temple, and not of his eternal damna- 
tion in hell, which could never enter into the apostle's 
thought, as to be brought about hereby, as appears from 
ver. §,' &c. Expos, in loc. 

3. Grotius. 'Perish : i. e., by degrees renounce Chris- 
tianity, inquiring with himself, why he should incur per- 
secution on account of things indifferent.' Annot. in loc. 

4. Gr. and Eng. Test. 1729. 'So that your notions 
may endanger the life of thy weak brother, for whom 
Christ died.' Trans, in loc. 

5. Beausobre and Lenfant. ! The sense is, thy weak 
brother will be thus induced to do that which is contrary 
to his own conscience, and possibly will relapse into 
idolatry, from which he has been converted.' Note in loc. 



SECTION LXXX. 

1 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection : lest that by 
any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast- 
away/ — 1 Cor. ix. 27. 

Some have supposed the apostle to express a fear, in 
this place, that he should fail of obtaining final salvation. 
And hence it is argued, that others are in the same 
danger, and that some will doubtless be cast off forever. 
But there are several orthodox writers who explain the 
passage differently. 

1. Assembyl's Annotations. ' The word signifieth not 
a reprobate, as if he were uncertain of his election, or of 
obtaining the priz — for the cont rary appears, Rom. viii. 
38, and 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8 — but reprovable or faulty ,' &c. 
Annot. in loc. 

2. Gill. ' I myself should be a castaway, or rejected, 
or disapproved of: that is, by men. The apostle's con- 
cern is, lest he should do any thing which might bring a 



212 SELECTIONS FROM 

reproach on the gospel, lest some corruption of his nature 
or other should break out, and thereby his ministry be 
justly blamed, and be brought under contempt, and so 
he be rejected and disapproved of by men, and become 
useless as a preacher ; not that he feared he should 
become a reprobate, as the word is opposed to an elect 
person, or that he should be a castaway eternally, or be 
everlastingly damned ; for he knew in whom he had 
believed,' &c. Expos, in loc. 

3. Geneva Bible. « Lest he should be reproved of 
men, when they should see him do contrary, or contemn 
that thinor which he taught others to do.' Note in loc. 

4. Tomson's Beza. ' This word (reproved,) is not 
set as contrary to the word elect, but as contrary to the 
word approved, when we see one by experience not to be 
such an one as he ought to be.' Note in loc. 



SECTION LXXXI. 



1 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh dam- 
nation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 7 — 1 Cor. xi. 29. 

Many timid persons have been prevented from cele- 
brating the dying love of our Saviour, in the manner 
prescribed by him, through the fear that, on account of 
some unworthiness in them, they might thus incur end- 
less damnation, of which they suppose the apostle here 
speaks. It will be seen, however, by the following quo- 
tations, that many orthodox writers allow that, by dam- 
nation, the apostle intended only temporal judgment or 
punishment : — 

1. Whitby. * Damnation : the word imports tempo- 
ral judgments ; as when St. Peter saith, the time is come, 
arxasthai to krima, that judgment must begin at the house 
of God, 1 Peter iv. 17, not damnation, surely. And this 
is certainly the import of the word here, (1,) Because the 
Corinthians did thus eat unworthily, and yet the judg- 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 213 

ments inflicted on them for so doing were only temporal, 
viz., weakness, sickness, and death, ver. 30. (2,) Because 
the reason assigned for those judgments is, that they 
might not be condemned in the other world, or that they 
might not be obnoxious to damnation.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Locke. * Damnation, by which our translation ren- 
ders krima, is vulgarly taken for eternal damnation in 
the other world ; whereas krima here signifies punish- 
ment of another nature, as appears by ver. 30 — 32.' Note 
in loc. 

3. Macknight. ' Drinketh punishment. That this is 
the signification of krima here, is plain from the follow- 
ing verse, where the Corinthians are said to be punished 
.with sickness, debility, and death, for eating unworthily. 
Besides, krima is often used in the New Testament to 
denote punishment. See Matt, xxiii. 14, Rom. xiii. 2, 
James iii. 1, and 1 Pet. iv. 17.' Note in Joe. 

4. Pearce. c Krima (damnation,) signifies here, tem- 
poral punishment, Viz., weakness, sickness, and death, as 
is plain from ver. 30.' Note in loc. 

5. Clarke. ' Krima — -judgment, punishment : and yet 
this is not unto damnation ; for the judgment, or punish- 
ment, inflicted upon the disorderly and the profane, was 
intended for their emendation ; for in ver. 32, it is said, 
when we are judged, krinomenoi, we are chastened, pai- 
deuometha, corrected as a father does his children, that 
we should not be condemned with the world.' 9 Note in loc. 

6. Gilpin. ' For you may be assured, that this un- 
worthy manner of receiving it will, in some shape or other, 
provoke God's indignation against you.' Expos, in loc. 

7. Peirce. This standard critic unquestionably un- 
derstands by damnation, in this place, temporal judgment. 
1 What this judgment was,' says he, ' appears from the 
next verse : for this cause many are sickly and weak among 
you, and many sleep.' Note in Heb. vi. 2. 

8. Wynne. ' Damnation is a very harsh expression, 
and wide of the apostle's meaning, who tells the Corin- 
thians, in the next verse, that many of them were weak 
and sick. He afterwards says, (ver. 32,) we are judged, 
i. e., corrected, as the apostle explains it in the same verse. 



214 SELECTIONS FROM 

that we may not be condemned. Hence it plainly appears, 
that judgment here implies paternal chastisements.' Note 
in loc. 



SECTION LXXXII. 



' If in this life only we have hope in Christ ; we are of all men most 
miserable.' — 1 Cor. xv. 19. 

Some have used this passage, when speaking of what 
they call a ' false hope/ to show, that if men indulge 
such a hope as will only endure through life, they must 
suffer endless misery, and are therefore of all men most 
miserable. Others have said, that Christians are far less 
happy in this world than the openly profane, and that 
they are, therefore, more miserable than others, unless 
there be a future retribution, when they shall be re- 
warded, and sinners punished ; and they have quoted 
this text in proof of their notion. Against both these 
opinions, I offer the following quotations : — 

1. Hammond. 'And indeed if Christ were not risen, 
if all our hope in Christ hath been terminated with this 
life of his on earth, (or if all the advantages which we 
reap by Christ are those which we enjoy here, who are 
worse used than any other men, persecuted continually 
for our profession of Christ,) it would then follow, that 
(as once the apostles deemed themselves upon his death, 
not knowing he was to rise again, so) we christians should 
be the most unhappy persons, the most proper objects of 
compassion, that are in the world.' Par, in loc. 

2. Pearce. ' If in this life we have no other hope and 
confidence but in Christ, (and if he be still dead, and 
not risen,) we are more to be pitied than any other men ; 
we are sadly deceived ; we have denied ourselves, and 
been denied by others ; have mortified ourselves, and been 
persecuted by our fellow-creatures, upon the account of 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 215 

our belief and hope in one who is not existing, and there- 
fore can neither succor us here, nor reward us hereafter.' 
Par. in Joe. 

3. Wynne. 'We, i. e., the apostles aud preachers of 
Christianity, amidst our persecutions and distresses, with- 
out the comfortable hopes of immortality.' Note in loc. 

4. Macknight. , ' Here the apostle answers an objec- 
tion, which, according to his manner, he does not men- 
tion, but supposes the reader to have made it in his own 
mind. The objection is this : " the apostles know that 
Christ hath not risen, and that there will be no resurrec- 
tion of the dead ; but they preach these things for the 
sake of some present advantage." To this, St. Paul re- 
plies, " If in this life only we have hope by Christ, we 
are of all men most miserable ;" because, by preaching 
the resurrection, we expose ourselves to every possible 
present evil, and if there is to be no resurrection of the 
dead, there is no future state in which we can enjoy any 
thing.' Note in loc. 

5. Scott. 'If the consolations, derived from the 
hopes and earnests of another life, were to be thus torn 
from christians, and they had no other benefit from Christ 
than what related to this present life, they would be of 
all men most miserable. Some explain this wholly of 
the apostles, as exposed to peculiar hardships and suffer- 
ings, and as peculiarly guilty in propagating an impos- 
ture, if, indeed, Christ was not risen : but there seems 
no proof that this restriction was intended. It does not 
follow, that christians would, in fact, be more unhappy 
than other men, if there should be no future reward ; for 
even then, their hopes of it, and that consolation which 
is thence derived, would counterbalance their peculiar 
trials, self-denials, and hardships ; hut if this hope and 
consolation ivere taken from them, they would, indeed, be 
more miserable than other men, having lost their relish 
for those vain pleasures which alone could be hoped for ; 
experiencing earnest desires, which must certainly be 
disappointed, and enduring many peculiar evils, without 
any peculiar support and consolation. The fact, how- 
ever, is, that christians have not only the hope of a future 
felicity, (which, even if groundless, must afford great 



216 SELECTIONS FROM 

consolation while it prevails,) but also the earnests, the 
beginnings, and first-fruits of it, in those holy affections 
towards God, and that joy in him, which a stranger inter- 
meddleth not with ; and therefore they are so far from 
being of all men most miserable, that they of all men 
enjoy the most solid comfort, amidst their difficulties and 
trials, and even in the seasons of the sharpest persecu- 
tions.' Note in loc. 



SECTION LXXXIII. 

c If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, 
Maran-atha.' — 1 Cor. xvi. 22. 

This has been quoted as a denunciation of torment in 
the future life. But that this was not the meaning of 
the apostle is admitted by many orthodox critics. 

1. Hammond. c If any man love not Christ so well 
as to confess him, but renounceth him in time of temp- 
tation, as the Gnostics affirm it lawful to do, let him 
fall under the heaviest censures of the church.' Par. in 
loc. 

2. Geneva Bible. ' If any man love not the Lord 
Jesus Christ, let him be had in execration, yea, excom- 
municate to death.' Trans, in loc. 

3. Pyle. ' Whoever among you maliciously and 
obstinately breaks the peace and credit of the christian 
church, by wicked factions, or scandalous vices, let him 
be excommunicated, and left to the terrible judgment of 
God, till he repents and reforms.' Par. in loc. 

4. Wakefield. ' If any love not the Lord Jesus 
Christ, let him be separated from you. Our Lord is 
coming.' Trans, in loc. 

5. Clarke. ' Does not the apostle refer to the last 
verse in the Bible ? Lest I come and smite the land with 
a curse. And does he not intimate that the Lord was 
coming to smite the Jewish land with that curse, which 
took place a very few years after, and continues on that 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 217 

gainsaying and rebellious people to the present day 1 
What the apostle has said was prophetic, and indicative 
of what was about to happen to that people. God was 
then coming to inflict punishment upon them. He came, 
and they were broken and dispersed.' Note in loc. 

6. Rosenmuller. i If any man love not Jesus Christ : 
i. e., so that he shall lightly regard his doctrine, or cast 
impediments in tlje way of this saving doctrine, for the 
sake of his own advantage, let him be separated from our 
society. I have no communion with such a one.' Scholia 
in loc. 



SECTION LXXXIV. 



' For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, 
and in them that perish : To the one we are the savour of death unto 
death ; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient 
for these things V— % Cor. ii. 15, 16. 

Certain of the clergy are fond of quoting these words 
in application to themselves and their hearers. They 
attempt to frighten the timid, by assuring them, that 
every sermon they hear will aggravate their final damna- 
tion, unless they shall seasonably repent. And this they 
represent the apostle to have intended in the text. But 
in the following quotations it is admitted, that, by them 
who perish, the apostle meant those who are subject to 
the unhappy consequences of unbelief in this life, and 
not those (if there be any,) who shall «ndure endless 
misery. 

1. Hammond. ' For, by our preaching the gospel, we 
perform a very acceptable service to God, and bring in 
glory to his name, offer up a sweet-smelling sacrifice unto 
him, among all sorts of people, both among the penitent 
believers, which receive the faith, and live according to 
it, and the impenitent unbelievers, that receive it not. 
For though this sweet perfume, to the obstinate impeni- 
tent, hath been the most perfect poison, (as high perfumes 
19 



213 SELECTIONS FROM 

sometimes are.) they have grown the worse for the £Os» 
pel's coming among them : yet. to all that have forsaken 
their old courses of sin, and obeyed this call to a new 
life, it hath been the most comfortable vital savour that 
ever came to them. This is a weighty employment, and, 
unless God did particularly enable us, we could never 
be fit for it.* Par. in loc. 

3. Gilpix. ; But. still, great is the difficulty of our 
ministry. To some we are the means of life, while we 
increase the guilt of others, who continue incorrigible 
under our reproof. 5 Expos, in loc. 

3. Horne. See a note from Home, relative to this 
text, quoted in 1 Cor. i. 18. 

For further remarks on this subject, see the notes on 
the next passage quoted, where the same word occurs 
with a different translation. 



SECTION LXXXV 



f Bat if our gospel be hid, it is hid 1 

god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest 
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God. should 
shine unto them. 3 — I Cor. iv. a. 4. 

The word here rendered lost, is the same (appollu- 
tnenoisy) which occurs in the passage last noticed, and 
is there translated perish. This term. Hammond, as 
the reader will perceive, understands to mean, not a 
damned spirit in the future life, but an obdurate, obsti- 
nate unbeliever; yet this is the principal word which 
has induced any one to suppose that the doctrine of end- 
less misery is taught in this passage. That the whole 
has its application to the affairs of this life, is allowed by 
the writers here quoted. 

1. Hammond. * Which we have done so plainly, that 
if the gospel of Christ, preached byus.be yet obscure. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 219 

it is so only among obdurate, obstinate unbelievers, 
ver. 4 ; see chap. ii. 15. Such as have their eyes so 
blinded by Satan, or their own worldly advantages, that 
the gospel of Christ, most powerfully and plainly reveal- 
ed by him, and shining forth in our preaching, since 
his departure from the earth, (and this most certainly 
the revelation of the immutable will of God, whom Christ 
represents to us, not as an ordinary picture doth the 
body, but as a real substantia] image of him,) is not per- 
mitted to have any impression or influence on their 
hearts ; they will not see, be it never so illustriously 
visible.' Par. in loc. 

2. Gilpin. ' It is impossible, indeed, that any one 
should resist the force of this pure and rational belief, 
unless his understanding were first disturbed by the wick- 
edness of the world.' Expos, in loc. 

3. Pyle. ' Nor can what I have preached and written 
to you be denied to be the sincere gospel truth, unless by 
such sensual and profligate men, whose affections are so 
wedded to their temporal ends and advantages, that they 
have no relish of the wise and glorious purposes of the 
religion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the image of the 
Father, and the revealer of his true and last will to man* 
kind.' Par. in loc. 



SECTION LXXXVI. 



1 For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ j that every 
one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath 
done 7 whether it be good or bad.' — 2 Cor. v. 10. 

This passage, like Rom. xiv. 10, all the orthodox 
commentators, so far as my examination has extended, 
agree in referring to a judgment which they say shall 
be rendered in the future life. A few remarks concern- 
ing the judgment here indicated may be found at Rom. 
xiv. 10. In this place I shall quote the passage, omit- 
ting the words in italics, which our translators added, to 



220 SELECTIONS FROM 

complete what they supposed to be the sense: — 'For 
we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, 
that every one may receive the things in body, according 
to that he hath done, whether good or bad.' The 
reader will observe, (1,) That the text, in this form, 
gives no intimation that the judgment is to be rendered 
after death ; but, on the contrary, its most obvious import 
is, that men shall be rewarded or punished on the earth, 
in as much as they shall receive in body according to their 
deeds, whether good or bad. (2,) This exposition is 
confirmed by the words of Jesus, John ix. 39 — ' For 
judgment ami come into this world;' and xii. 31, 6 Now 
is the judgment of this world.' If it be objected, that 
this testimony does not relate to a judgment sufficiently 
extensive to correspond with the text, this objection 
cannot avail against the following declaration of Jesus, 
Matt. xvi. 27, 28 — c For the Son of man shall come in 
the glory of his Father, with his angels ; and then he 
shall reward every man according to his works. Verily 
I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall 
not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming 
in his kingdom.' May not this relate to the same judg- 
ment of which the apostle speaks ? (3,) If it still be 
insisted, that the text has relation to a judgment after 
death, let it be remembered, that it contains not a single 
syllable relative to the duration of the punishment which 
may then be rendered. 

In a word, the text appears to relate to the concerns 
of the present life, both from the language it contains, 
and from corresponding scriptures ; but, if it relate to the 
next life, it says nothing of the duration of punishment. 
In either case, it can afford no proof, that any shall be 
endlessly miserable. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 221 



SECTION LXXXVII. 



' Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith 3 prove your own selves. 
Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye 
be reprobates / But I trust ye shall know that we are not reprobates. 
IV ow I pray to God that ye do no evil 3 not that we should appear ap- 
proved, but that ye should" do that which is honest, though we be as rep- 
robates/ — 2 Cor. xiii. 5 — 7. 

The word reprobate has become associated, in the 
minds of men, with the idea of endless misery ; and 
hence this passage has sometimes been explained as al- 
luding to such misery. But there is sufficient testimony, 
that such is not its meaning in the present case. 

1. Whitby. * If ye be not reprobates : i. e., christians 
in name only, and not in deeds, so Grotius ; stupid and 
hardened, Dr. Hammond ; wicked, and unfit for the faith, 

Vorstius ; unworthy of the name of christians, Dickson ; 
deprived of faith, light, grace, and knowledge, Menochius 
unless you, by your crimes, have cast off Christ, Calvin. 

4 It is to be observed, that the word adokimos, which we 
render reprobate, hath no relation in scripture to any 
decree of God, either absolutely excluding men from a 
capacity of salvation, or doing it conditionally, on the 
account of the sin of Adam ; but only doth denote such 
men as have made themselves unworthy, by the corruption 
of their faith or manners, to be approved and owned by 
God.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Locke. ' Adokimoi, translated here reprobates, it is 
plain, in these three verses, has no such signification, rep- 
robation being very remote from the argument the apostle 
is here upon ; but the word adokimos is here used for one 
that cannot give proof of Christ being in him ; one that 
is destitute of a supernatural power ; for thus stands St. 
Paul's discourse, since you seek a proof, you shall know that 
I am not destitute of a proof ' Note in loc. 

3. Wakefield. ' Try yourselves, whether ye be in the 
faith ; examine yourselves. Do ye not perceive in your- 
selves, that Jesus Christ is in you 1 unless ye are without 
discernment. But I pray unto God, that he would do 

19* 



222 SELECTIONS FROM 

unto you no evil at all ; not that our discernment might 
appear, but that ye may do what is right, even though we 
should appear without discernment.' Trans, in loc. 

4. Macknight. * The word adokimoi, which our trans- 
lators have rendered reprobates, does not admit of that 
meaning in this passage, as is plain, from the scope of the 
discourse, and from the apostles' applying that word to 
himself, ver. 7, which he could not do in its common sig- 
nification. 

1 Without proof: without that proof of our apostleship, 
which would be given to you, were we miraculously to 
punish the obstinate offenders among you. That in this 
passage the word adokimoi signifies persons without proof 
and not reprobates, every reader must see, when he con- 
siders, that the Corinthians doing that which was good, 
could not have any influence to render the apostle a re- 
probate, in the modern sense of the word. And, even 
though it could have had that influence, is it to be sup- 
posed, that the apostle would have consented to be made 
a reprobate, in order that the Corinthians might do that 
which was good 1 In the language of modern times, a 
reprobate is one who is excluded from the possibility of 
salvation, by an absolute decree of God ; one who is de- 
livered over to perdition. But no where in scripture is the 
word adokimos used in that sense.' Note in loc. 

5. Calmet. ' Reprobus, (reprobate,) in these three or 
four verses, is by no means to be understood concerning 
reprobation from eternal salvation, or deprivation of 
glory.' Com. in loc. 

The careful reader will notice, that the authors I have 
quoted disagree somewhat in rejation to the true import 
of the word here rendered reprobates ; yet they all agree 
in asserting, that it does not mean what is now generally 
understood by the word reprobate — that it does not in- 
dicate an absolute exclusion from salvation : — and this 
is all which it seems necessary for me to show in regard 
to it. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 223 



SECTION LXXXVIII. 



1 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto 
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. A3 
we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel 
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 7 — Gal. i. 8, 9. 

The reader need not be informed, that the words 
damned and cursed are frequently quoted, by certain of 
our brethren, as importing the endless misery of those to 
whom they are applied in scripture. On the strength 
of the word accursed, this passage has been alledged in 
opposition to the final salvation of all men. But that it 
furnishes no proof, that any shall suffer misery in the 
future life, may sufficiently appear from the following 
quotations : — 

1. Hammond. c And if any attempt to do that, though 
it were I myself, or even an angel from heaven, I pro- 
claim unto you mine opinion and apostolical sentence, 
that you are to disclaim and renounce all communion 
with him, to look on him as an excommunicated person, 
under the second degree of excommunication, that none 
is to have any commerce with in sacred matters. And 
that ye may take more heed to what I say, I repeat it 
again, Whosoever teaches you any new doctrine, contrary 
to what I at first preached unto you, let him be cast out 
of the church by you.' P^tr. in loc. 

2. Diodati. i Accursed: viz., execrable and abomi- 
nable.' Annot. in loc, 

3. Wakefield. ' But, if even we, or an angel from 
heaven, should preach the gospel differently from what we 
did preach it unto you, let him be rejected. As we told 
you before, so now I tell you again, if any one preach a 
different gospel to you from what ye received from us, 
let him be rejected.' Trans, in loc. 

4. Clarke. * Perhaps this is not designed as an im- 
precation, but as a simple direction ; for the word here 
may be understood as implying, that such a person should 
have no countenance in his bad work, but let him, as 



224 SELECTIONS FROM 

Theodoret expresses it, be separated from the communion 
of the church. This, however, would also imply that, 
unless the person repented, the divine judgments would 
soon follow.' Com. in loc. 

5. Calmet. ' The apostle, in this place, says, If an 
angel, or if he himself, should so far swerve from the true 
faith, as to preach another gospel, different from that 
which he had preached, Anathema, let him be cut off 
from the communion of the faithful, so that he shall not in 
any manner be a partaker of the benefits of the church.' 
Com. in loc. 



SECTION LXXXIX. 



i For as many as are of the works of the law. are under the curse : for 
it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which 
are written in the book of the law to do them/ — Gal. iii. 10. 

The curse of the law is supposed, by many, to be 
endless misery. I may be indulged the remark, that it 
is now generally admitted, by critics, that in the law 
there are no distinct proofs to be found of the doctrine 
of a future life; and it would surely be strange, that 
punishment in a future life should be denounced, when 
even the fact, that there shall be such a life, is not 
disclosed. I need not pursue this thought ; the result 
will be readily discovered by the reader. The following 
quotations may suffice to show, that the text has no 
relation to the future life : — 

1. Whitby. This learned writer has no note on this 
verse ; but on ver. 13, of the same chapter, he gives his 
views concerning the curse of the law here mentioned. 

' The sins to which the curse is threatened, Deut. xxvii. 
were either such to which God elsewhere threatened 
death, or cutting off, or such as he required them to ab- 
stain from, that they might live and not die. Now, seeing 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 225 

the Socinians so stiffly do contend, that the life promised 
to the observers of the law was only temporal, why should 
they say, that the death threatened to the violation of it 
is eternal death ? It is true, all death must be eternal to 
them that cannot raise themselves, and have no promise 
of a resurrection ; upon which two accounts, our Saviour's 
death was not eternal, because he had power to revive 
himself, and had a promise that he should not see cor- 
ruption ; but the death threatened by the law, in its own 
nature, being only the separation of the soul from the body, 
this our Lord did as truly suffer, as they could do, who 
should never live again.' Annot. in ver. 13. 

2. Locke. 'Blessed and under the curse : here, again, 
there is another division, viz., into the blessed, and those 
under the curse, whereby is meant, such as are in a state 
of life, or acceptance with God ; or such as are exposed 
to his wrath, and to death. See Deut. xxx. 19.' Note 
in loc. 

3. Pyle. ' For indeed that law is of quite a different 
nature from one that is to justify and save mankind. It 
is a most severe dispensation, abounding in duties and 
injunctions, and laying all under guilt that break any one 
of them, but provides no sufficient atonement to clear 
their consciences of that guilt.' Par. in loc. 

4. Rosenmuller. ' No Jew is able to yield perfect 
obedience to all the precepts of the Mosaic law ; he is 
always in danger, lest he should offend : all the Jews, 
therefore, being aliens from faith in Christ, are obnoxious 
to punishment. It is written, &c. Deut. xxvii. 26, Cursed, 
unhappy, miserable. Wlio remaineth not, &c. ; who shall 
not be continually perfect. The law here, and in what 
follows, signifies the Mosaic law. By the curse is to be 
understood, those punishments which are denounced in 
the book of Moses — corporeal, civil, public, private, &c. 
Nothing is here said of damnation, i. e., eternal punish- 
ment.' Scholia in loc. 

5. Calmet. The curse of the law is understood by 
Calmet to be temporal death. Hence he says, that such 
as become obnoxious to that curse, are ' to be extermi- 
nated from among the people.' Com. in loc. 



226 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION XC. 

'Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, Adultery, 
fornication, uncleanness. lasciviousness. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, 
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, 
drunkenness, revellings, and such like : of the which I tell you before, as 
I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall 
not inherit the kingdom of God. 7 — Gal. v. 19 — 21. 

This passage is very similar to 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, and 
Eph. v. 5, and is often quoted to prove that some shall 
never enjoy happiness in the future life. It should be 
remembered, that the phrase, kingdom of God, very 
frequently, in the scriptures, signifies the privileges of 
the gospel dispensation, to be enjoyed in the present 
life. See notes on Matt. iii. 2, John hi. 3, 5, and other 
passages in which this phrase occurs. Before this text 
can be urged with effect, in proof of endless misery, it 
must be shown clearly, that the phrase in question can- 
not here refer to a state of things on the earth, and that 
it must have reference to the affairs of the future life. 
In opposition to the common opinion, I offer the follow- 
ing quotation. 

Cappe. In his dissertation on the terms, kingdom of 
Heaven. See. Cappe quotes this passage in connexion 
with 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, with the following remarks : — 

' In these passages, kingdom of God seems to -signify 
heavenly happiness — the felicities of a future life ; but 
though this should be doubted — though it should be 
thought, that this phrase may here signify, shall not he 
acknowledged for the genuine subjects of the kingdom of 
truth and righteousness, for Christians, yet, of its meaning 
in the passage next to be adduced, there seems to be less 
doubts ; 1 Cor. xv. 58. ' Now this I say, brethren, that 
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,' &c. 
Grit. Rem, vol. i. p. 188, 189. 

Hence it seems Cappe was himself doubtful in regard 
to these texts. He does not attempt to defend what he 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 227 

thinks may be their meaning, but passes directly to 
another text, of which he thinks there can be less 
doubt. Thus he apparently yields the point, that these 
two quite as probably (if not more,) mean, that the 
characters here described are not fit subjects of the gos- 
pel kingdom on earth, as that they shall never enjoy the 
' heavenly felicities of a future life.' 

For further remarks on this subject, see notes on 
1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, and Eph. v. 5. 



SECTION xci. 



* For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption : 
but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.'-^- 
Gal. vi. 8. 

The WTiters quoted below admit that this text has 
relation to the affairs of this present life. 

1. Locke. * He that lays out the stock of good things 
he has, only for the satisfaction of his own bodily neces* 
sities, conveniences, or pleasures, shall, at the harvest, 
find the fruit and product of such husbandry to be cor- 
ruption and perishing. But he that lays out his worldly 
substance according to the rules dictated by the Spirit of 
God in the gospel > shall of the Spirit reap life ever- 
lasting.' Par. in Joe. 

2. Tompson's Beza. ' To his flesh: to the commo- 
dities of this present life. 

6 Ver. 7, 8, He commencleth liberality towards the poor, 
and, first of all, chideth them which were not ashamed 
to pretend this and that, and all because they would not 
help their neighbors, as though they could deceive God, 
and afterwards compareth alms to a spiritual sowing, 
which shall have a most plentiful harvest, so that it 
shall be very profitable, and compareth covetous nig- 
gardliness to a carnal sowing, whereof nothing can be 



228 SELECTIONS FROM 

gathered but such things as fade away and perish by and 
by.' Annot. in loc. 

It will be recollected, that Jesus testifies, John v. 24, 
'He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that 
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into 
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.' 
Those, therefore, who sow to the Spirit, or who believe 
and obey the instructions of Jesus, enjoy on the earth a 
state of happiness which is denominated everlasting life. 
On the contrary, those who sow to the flesh, regarding 
chiefly the animal nature, and neglecting to obey the 
requirements of God, reap corruption ; or they endure 
that state of degradation and death, from which others 
are delivered through faith and obedience. Hence it 
appears, that both members of the text may have rela- 
tion to the consequences of virtue and vice, while men 
live in the flesh. 



SECTION XCII. 



< For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor 
covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kindgdom 
of Christ and of God. 7 — Eph. v. 5. 

For similar forms of speech, and for remarks on the 
ideas thus conveyed, the reader is refened to 1 Cor. vi. 
9, 10, and Gal. v. 19 — 21, and to the notes on those 
passages. It must be obvious to every reader, that the 
same rule of interpretation will apply to all these texts, 
inasmnch as they are perfectly similar in character, and, 
in an important sense, may be considered parallel to each 
other. The notes on either will apply with equal force 
to both the others. 

Of the writers quoted below, one plainly admits, that 
this text may relate to a gospel or church-state on earth ; 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 229 

the other, though he retains the phrase, kingdom of 
Christ, yet appears to convey the same meaning: I am 
the more confident this was his intention, since he has 
so plainly expressed his views of a similar phraseology, 
in his notes on Mark x. 24, 25, Luke xviii. 24, 25, and 
John iii. 3, 5, to which the reader is referred. 

1. Gill. ' Kingdom of Christ and of God: meaning 
either a gospel church state, in which persons of such 
characters, and living in such sins, ought-, not to be, or 
else the kingdom of heaven and of glory,' &c. Expos, 
in loc. 

2. Gilpin. ' Let all impurity likewise be avoided, as 
well as sins against your neighbor. The philosopher of 
this world may excuse impure practices under the name 
of natural inclinations ; but assure yourselves they are 
utterly inconsistent with the kingdom of Christ.' Expos, 
in ver. ] — 5. 



SECTION XCIII. 



* And in nothing terrified by your adversaries : which is to them an 
evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. ; — 
Phil. i. 23. 

This passage has been thought to furnish proof that 
some shall not be saved. But the orthodox writers, 
quoted below, do not so understand it. 

1. Gilpin. 'Not let any worldly fears, nor worldly 
adversaries, discompose you. The opposition of your 
enemies marks their hard and impenitent hearts, but 
brightens your hope in the mercies of God — purifying 
your religious principles, as I hope in God it hath done 
mine, by adding suffering to faith.' Expos, in ver. 28 — 
30. 

2. M icknight. This writer has a different view 
of the apostle's meaning. He thinks perdition signifies 
damnation, in the popular sense of the word. But the 

20 



230 SELECTIONS FROM 

reader will observe he says their opposers thought the 
Christians would be damrmed ; but in thus judging, they 
erred, in as much as those persons should assuredly be 
saved. Hence, in his opinion, this text affords no sup- 
port to the doctrine of endless misery, since, as he 
asserts, those persons shall be saved, who were thought 
to be in danger of endless damnation. 

' The firmness with which the Philippians refused to 
obey the law of Moses, was considered, not only by the 
unbelieving Jews, but by the Judaizing Christians, as a 
proof of their damnation. In like manner, the resolution 
with which the Christians refused to join the heathens, 
in their worship, was considered by the heathens as an 
obstinacy in atheism, which would bring on them eternal 
punishment in Tartarus.' 

In accordance with this view of the subject, Mack- 
night gives the following paraphrase of the verse : — 

' And show that ye are not terrified, in any shape, by 
the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, your adversaries, 
though numerous and powerful ; which fortitude, to them 
indeed, is a demonstration of your damnation, because 
they consider it as obstinacy in error, but to you it is a 
clear proof of your salvation, and that from Cod him- 
self.' Com. and Note in loc> 



SECTION XCIV. 

'Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is 
in their shame, who mind earthly things. '« — Phil. iii. 19. 

As destruction is said to be the end of these persons, 
some have supposed they must be endlessly miserable in 
the future life. This surely is not the most obvious 
meaning of the word destruction, nor of the Greek word 
thus rendered. And that such is not its import in this 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 231 

place, but that it indicates a destruction of natural life — - 
in other words, that it indicates that these persons should 
be punished with death, is the opinion of the writers 
quoted below. 

1. Hammond. ' But shall, in fine, gain little by it, but 
be destroyed with the Jews in their approaching ruin, 
2 Pet. ii. 1, the Gnostics, 1 mean, who mind nothing but 
their sensual appetites, boast of all those things which 
they ought to be ashamed of — their base lusts, &c, and 
so can never look up towards heaven.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Pile. ' Their notions and views of religion are all 
temporal, and their chief aim is at the gratification of 
their sensual appetites and pleasures ; they boast in what 
they ought to be ashamed of; and, for such irreclaimable 
prejudices and practices, God will destroy their whole 
nation with a most exemplary destruction.' Par, in loc* 

3. Whitby. This passage is applied to the tem* 
poral destruction of the Jewish nation in particular, by 
Dr. Whitby, in his annotation on 2 Thess. ii. 3, quoted 
in its proper place. 



section xcv. 



' Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill 
up their sins always : for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.' 
— 1 Thess. ii. 16. 

That the wrath here mentioned indicates merely 
temporal punishment, and has no reference to torments 
after death, is admitted in the following quotations : — 

1. Whitby. Our Lord had said to them, Jill ye up the 
measure of your fathers, by adding to the murder of the 
prophets, the murder of me, and of those prophets and 
wise men I shall send to you, Matt, xxiii. 32 — 35, that 
upon you of this generation may come all the blood shed 
from Abel to this present time, Luke xi. 49, 51. This pre* 



232 SELECTIONS FROM 

I 

diction, saith the apostle, is now fulfilled; and they, by 
fulfilling it, have filled up the measure of their sins ; and 
God's wrath is so incensed against them, that it will now 
destroy their church and nation to the uttermost; so 
that it shall not be now as formerly, when they were 
sometimes in bondage, and again in freedom from their 
enemies — sometimes were captives, and then returned 
again, after seventy years, to their own land, found God 
for a while angry, and anon, reconciled to them. But 
this wrath shall now remain upon them to the uttermost, 
till the times of the Gentiles are come in, Luke xxi. 24. See 
note on Rom. xi. 25. Or, till they be consumed: — so the 
phrase is used often in the Old Testament, as Numb. xvii. 
13, Josh. viii. 24, x. 29 — i. e., God's wrath hath begun to 
fall upon them, and they will still continue under it, till 
they be consumed by it.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Macknight. ' The past time is here put for the 
present, and is plain, from this, that the w r rath of God 
had not yet fallen on the Jewish nation. The apostle 
speaks of their punishment as at hand, being taught it, 
either by Christ's prediction, or by a particular revelation 
made to himself. The version which our translators have 
given of this phrase, namely, to the utmost, is improper. 
For, though the calamities brought on the Jews, by the 
Romans, were very great, they did not utterly destroy 
them. According to God's promise, that he never would 
make a full end of the Jews, a remnant of them was 
left ; and in the posterity of that remnant, now multiplied 
to a great number, the promises, concerning the conver- 
sion and restoration of Israel, will be fulfilled.' Note in 
loc. 

3. Hammond. ' And this, generally, is the ground of 
their quarrel with us, that, in spite of their prohibition, 
we preach to the Gentiles, use means that they might 
repent of their idolatries, &c, by which, and the former 
things, the Jews do so fill up the measure of their sins, 
that the wrath of God, to the utter destruction of them, 
is now come upon them, already denounced, and, within 
a very little while, most certain to overtake them.' Par. 
in loc. 

4. Dutch Annotations. c This is by some understood 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 233 

of the heaviness of the judgment, or wrath of God, which 
God is wont to send down upon the heads of such men, 
both here and hereafter ; by others, as fitly, of the con- 
tinuance of the judgment or wrath of God, which came 
upon this stiff-necked generation of the Jews, shortly after 
that time, when God exemplarily punished them, with the 
greater part of the rest, assembled out of all quarters at 
Jerusalem, by the Romans, and so destroyed them, that 
they are yet no more a people, but remain scattered 
amongst all nations, and are generally hardened in unbe- 
lief.' Annot. in loc. 

5. Knatchbull. ' The wrath of God is come upon 
them in the end. They have killed Jesus and their own 
prophets, and they have persecuted us, neither care they 
for God, but are contrary to all, forbidding us to preach 
unto you, that ye might be saved ; but the vengeance of 
God is come upon them in the end. Their measure was 
full, and the destruction of Jerusalem was at hand.' 
Annot. in loc. 

6. Calmet. ■ God was to visit them immediately in 
vengeance, to scatter them among all nations, to destroy 
the largest portion of them, and to cause the remnant of 
this miserable race to bear the most manifest marks of 
his indignation. This came to pass about seventeen years 
after Paul wrote this epistle, to wit, in the year of Jesus 
Christ, seventy.' Com. in loc. 



SECTION XCVL 



1 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to 
them that trouble you ; And to you. who are troubled, rest with us, when 
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In 
naming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey 
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : Who shall be punished with 
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory 
of his power 5 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to 
be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you 
was believed) in that day/ — 2 Thess. i. 6 — 10. 

This passage has been alleged as containing positive 
20* 



234 SELECTIONS FROM 

proof of torments after death. But there is orthodox 
authority for understanding it to relate to temporal 
destruction. 

1. Hammond. 'The revelation of Christ, as the coming 
of Christ, is a phrase of doubtful signification, sometimes 
signifying the coming to the final doom ; but sometimes, 
also, that coming that was described, Matt, xxiv., and was 
to be within that generation. And so sure it signifies in 
several places of St. Peter, 1 Pet. i. 7, 13, and iv. J3; 
and the deliverance ready to be revealed, 1 Pet. i. 5, the 
destruction of the Jews being the time of deliverance 
and escaping to the christians that were persecuted by 
them, (see Rom. xiii. 11 ;) so again, 1 Pet. v. 1, where St. 
Peter, saying of himself, that he was a icitness of the 
sufferings of Christ, addeth, he was also partaker of the 
glory that should be revealed, that is, present at the trans- 
figuration, whereby Moses and Elias were represented, 
and declared the glorious consequents of his crucifixion, 
that is, the destruction of his crusifiers, and deliverance 
of his faithful disciples. And so here it most probably 
signifies, where the vengeance on the oppressors, that is, 
the crucifiers of Christ, and persecutors of christians, is 
described, and an appendix of that rest and release to the 
oppressed, which is that deliverance or (salvation) so oft 
promised to them that persevere and endure, and outlast 
those persecutions, and that, in that day, ver. 10, which 
is the notation of that time of vengeance upon the Jews. 

* As for the mentions, first, of the angels, secondly, of 
the flame of fire, thirdly, of the everlasting destruction, 
which may here seem to interpret this revelation oj Christ, 
so as to signify the day of the general doom — it is 
evident, first, that the angels being ministers of God, 
in executing his judgments on nations, this remarkable 
vengeance on the Jews may well here, and is elsewhere 
fitly expressed, by his coming or revealing himself with, 
or by, his angels, so Matt. xvi. 27, and elsewhere often. 
Then, secondly, for the flame of fire, or flaming fire : that 
is ordinarily the expression of the appearance of angels, 
(he maketh his ministers a flaming fire, saith the psalmist,) 
and so adds little to the former. And, besides, God's 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 235 

judgments, if they be destructive, are ordinarily, in pro- 
phetic phrase, expressed by flaming fire ; see Matt. iii. 
12. Thirdly, for the everlasting destruction ; that signifies 
an utter destruction, as of Sodom, it is said, Jude 7, that 
it endured the vengeance of eternal fire, which, in all 
reason, belonging to the fire and brimstone that destroyed 
Sodom, must signify, not the eternal burning of that fire, 
but the utter consumption of the city, by that fire, or the 
fire's never ceasing to burn, till it had utterly consumed the 
city; and so, when of the chaff it is^said, Matt. iii. 12, 
that it shall be burned with unquenchable fire, it refers to 
the custom of winnowing, where the fire, being set to the 
chaff, and assisted with the wind, never goes out till it 
have burned up all ; meanwhile, not excluding the eternal 
torments of hell fire, which expect all impenitent sinners, 
that thus fall, but looking particularly on the visible 
destruction and vengeance which seizeth on whole na- 
tions or multitudes at once in this life. And that this is 
the meaning of everlasting destruction here, appears, by 
all that here follows in this chapter, the time assigned 
for it, when Christ shall come, (the ordinary expression of 
this, his vengeance on his crucifiers,) to be glorified in his 
saints, and to be admired among all believers in that day, 
which that it belongs to somewhat then approaching, 
and wherein the Thessalonians were then concerned, 
(not to the general judgment, yet future,) is evident by 
his prayer for them, that they may have their part in that 
great favor of God, ver. 11, and that the name of the Lord 
Jesus may be glorified among them to whom he writes, and 
that they may be glorified in, or through him, by this re- 
markable deliverance, which should befal them which 
were now persecuted.' Annot. in loc. 

Three things are especially observable in this note ; 
(1,) Dr. Hammond is careful to mention, more than once, 
his belief in a day of general judgment, and the endless 
misery of the wicked. (2,) He distinctly asserts, that 
this passage does not indicate that day or misery, but 
that it has special reference to a day then approaching, 
or near at hand, viz., that day when the nation of un- 
believing Jews suffered that temporal destruction, which 



236 SELECTIONS FROM 

Jesus and the prophets had foretold, and the believing 
Christians had rest, being preserved from destruction, 
and delivered from persecution. (3,) He declares that 
all the terms used in this description are proper, and 
applicable to the subject of which, he says, the apostle 
was particularly speaking. 

2. Cappe. By examining Cappe's remarks, quoted 
among the notes on Heb. x. 39, the reader will perceive 
that he explains the commencement of this epistle, (of 
course embracing the passage now under consideration,) 
as having reference ' solely to the visitation of the Jews, 
foretold in Matt. xxiv. Or, however, if not solely, yet 
to that catastrophe in conjunction with other events that 
were conceived to be contiguous to it in point of time. 
However, beyond th&t time, these passages do not look.' 
See the end of his note, where he declares, that what 
he had thus said of certain passages in Hebrews is equally 
true of the ' second of Thessalonians, at the beginning.' 

3. Gill. * And to you wlio are troubled, rest with us : 
this is another branch of the justice of God, in rendering 
to them who are afflicted and persecuted for righteous- 
ness' sake, rest; a relaxation or rest from persecutions, 
for a while, at least ; as the churches of Judea, Galilee, 
and Samaria, had, from that persecution, raised at the 
death of Stephen, Acts ix. 31, and as the christians had, 
at the destruction of Jerusalem ; which, though it was a 
day of vengeance to the unbelieving Jews, were times of 
refreshing to the saints, who were now delivered from 
their persecutors.' Expos, in loc. 

The doctor seems thus, for a moment, to have seen 
the true application of this portion of the text. But, as 
if frightened at the light, he suddenly, and resolutely, 
closed his eyes, and felt his way by the marks which 
others had left behind them, through the remainder of 
the passage. And even the portion here noticed he 
explains in another manner also, and thus manages to 
carry the whole into the future life. Whether he has 
contradicted himself or not, is no concern of mine. And, 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 237 

therefore, whatever might have been his real opinion of 
the text, as he allows that a part of it (and an impor- 
tant part too,) may have the application given in his 
note, I feel justified in quoting him as authority on this 
point. This he does allow, and so far agrees with 
Hammond and Cappe, before quoted. 



SECTION xcvn. 



'Let no man deceive you by any means : for that day shall not come 
except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed 
the son of perdition. 7 — 2 Thess. ii. 3. 

One principal object in noticing this text is, that some 
further light may be had on the meaning of the phrase, 
son of perdition, which, in John xvii. 12, is applied to 
Judas Iscariot. It will be seen, that the application of 
this epithet to a man, or to a nation, does not necessarily 
import the endless misery of such man or nation. 

1. Whitby. The text and context are explained 
by Dr. Whitby as having relation to the apostacy of the 
Jews as a nation. He remarks : — 

1 The son of perdition : this also perfectly agrees to 
the Jews, not only because Christ was to smite them with 
the breath of his mouth, see note on ver. 8, and to smite 
the land with a curse, Mai. iv. 6, but because they are set 
forth as vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction, Rom. ix. 
22, as men appointed to wrath, 1 Thess. v. 9, to sudden 
destruction, ver. 4, as men whose end is destruction, Phil, 
iii. 19. Note also that this agrees exactly to the great 
whore, who is to go into destruction, Rev. xvii. 8, 11.' 
Annot. in he. 

2. Clarke. ' Son of perdition : the son of destruc- 
tion : the same epithet that is given to Judas Iscariot, 
John xvii. 12, where see the note. The son of perdition 
and the man of sin, or as some excellent MSS. and ver- 
sions, with several of the fathers, read, the lawless man, 



238 SELECTIONS FROM 

see ver. 8, must mean the same person or thing. It is 
also remarkable, that the wicked Jews are styled by 
Isaiah, chap. i. 4, " children of perdition;" persons who 
destroy themselves, and destroy others. 5 Com, in loc. 

Although there is nothing very definite in this note, 
relative to the true import of the passage, yet its general 
appearance is somewhat similar to that of Dr. Whitby, 
quoted above. 

3. M acknight. ' Dr. Macknight, instead of agree- 
ing with Whitby and others, that the apostacy of the 
Jewish nation is here indicated, inclines to the opinion, 
that the apostle intends an apostacy, or defection from 
the true faith in the Christian church. He illustrates his 
view of the subject by a comparison of several passages, 
in the prophecy of Daniel, with the language of St. Paul, 
to which the curious reader is referred. He holds the 
following lan£ua°;e : — 

1 That man of sin — that son of perdition. The article 
joined to these appellations is emphatical, as in the for- 
mer clause, importing that the ancient prophets had 
spoken of these persons, though under different names — 
particularly the prophet Daniel, whose description of the 
little horn and blasphemous king agree so exactly in 
meaning with Paul's descriptions of the man of sin, and 
son of perdition, and lawless one, that there can be little 

doubt of their being the same persons. Now, as in the 

prophecies of Daniel, empires governed by a succession 
of kings are denoted by a single emblem ; such as by a 
part of an image, a single heart, a horn, *Scc, of a beast ; 
so, in Paul's prophecy, the man of sin, and son of perdi- 
tion, and the lawless one, may denote an impious tyranny , 
exercised by a succession of men who cause great misery 
and ruin to others, and who, at length, shall be destroyed 
themselves.' Note in loc. 

4. Ltghtfoot. 'The remarks of Lightfoot on this 
passage are so intimately connected with those on ver. 
8, that they cannot conveniently be exhibited separately. 
They will be found among the notes on ver. 8, of this 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 239 

chapter, to which the reader is referred. It will be seen, 
that, in his general view of the subject, he does not 
differ essentially from the writers quoted above. 

5. Grotius. • The apostle means that Caius, as he 
was exceedingly wicked, was destined by the Lord to a 
signal destruction, than which nothing could be more 
true.' Annot, in loc. 

Although Grotius differs from the other writers here 
cited, as to the person indicated by the ' son of per- 
dition, 7 yet he agrees with them in representing the 
apostle to mean a temporal destruction, and says nothing 
concerning endless misery being implied in the passage. 



SECTIOX xcvin. 



1 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall con* 
sume with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness 
of his coming.'" — 2 Thess. ii. 8. 

It is generally agreed, by expositors, that the apostle 
is here speaking on the same subject which is embraced 
in ver. 3, the notes on which may be consulted in con- 
nexion with those which follow. 

1. Hammond. ' Then immediately shall this sect of 
Gnostics show itself — join with and stir up the Jews, and 
bring heavy persecutions upon the christians, and (having 
this opportunity to calumniate them to the Jews,) behave 
themselves as their professed opposers. And Simon 
Magus shall set himself forth in the head of them — whom, 
as a professed enemy of Christ, Christ shall destroy by 
extraordinary means — by the preaching and miracles of 
St. Peter ; and for all the apostatizing Gnostics that 
adhered to him, they shall be involved in the destruction 
of the unbelieving Jews, with whom they have joined 
against the christians. And two means are here men- 
tioned, by which this should be done ; first, by the breath 



240 SELECTIONS FROM 

of Christ's mouth ; secondly, by the brightness of his 
coming ; the former noting the power of the gospel in the 
mouth of the apostles, Peter and Paul, who contended 
with him [Simon Magus,] personally, at Rome, and 
brought ruin and shame upon him ; and the second 
noting the vengeance that befel the Jews by the Roman 
armies, at which time the Gnostics, that sided with them, 
were destroyed also.' Par. and Annot. in loc. 

2. Gilpin. 'At length the wicked opposers of the 
truth shall be finally beaten down.' Expos, in loc. 

3. Clarke. < WJwm the Lord shall consume : he shall 
blast him so, that he shall ivithcr and die aivay ; and this 
shall be done by the spirit of his mouth — the words of 
eternal life, the true doctrine of the gospel of Jesus : 
this shall be the instrument used to destroy this man 
of sin; therefore, it is evident his death will not be a 
sudden, but a gradual one ; because it is by the preaching 
of the truth, that he is to be exposed, overthrown, and 
finally destroyed.' Com. in loc. 

4. Macknight. ( Will consume: this word, Chandler 
observes, is used to denote a lingering, gradual consump- 
tion ; being applied to the waste of time, to the dissipa- 
tion of an estate, and to the slow death of being eaten up 
by worms. He supposes it has the same meaning here, 
importing that the man of sin is to be gradually destroyed 
by the breath of Christ's mouth.' Note in loc. 

5. Lightfoot. 'The phrase, the man of sin and child 
of perdition, is plainly taken from that place, Isa. xi. 4 — 
" With the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked 
one ;" and the apostle makes it clear that he referreth 
to that place, by using the very words of the prophet at 
ver. 8 — " Whom the Lord shall consume with the breath 
of his mouth." The Jews put an emphasis upon that 
word in the prophet, the wicked one, as it appeareth by 
the Chaldee paraphrast, who hath uttered it, " He shall 
destroy the wicked Romans," and so the apostle puts an 
emphasis upon it, and translates it "the man of sin ;" 
and in that Christ is introduced in the prophet, as having 
a special quarrel and vengeance against him ; he is called 
the " son of perdition," or he that is so certainly and 
remarkably to be destroyed. It is true this meaneth the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 241 

Roman, as the Chaldee, and our protestant divines, by 
the warrant of John, in the Revelation, do interpret it : 
but, in the first place and sense, it meancth the Jewish 
nation, which proved antichrist, as well as Rome ever 
did, and as far as Rome ever did, and before Rome ever 
did, and as long and longer than Rome hath yet done. 
As Jews and Rome joined in the murder of Christ, so 
are they joined in this character of antichrist ; but the 
Jews to be understood first, see ver. 7 — The mystery of 
iniquity iv as already working, when the apostle wrote this 
epistle, which cannot possibly be understood but of the 
Jewish nation ; and so it is explained again and again.' 
Harm. New Test. in2 Thess. 

In all these notes let it be observed, the writers say 
nothing of endless misery being indicated by perdition 
and destruction, but they agree that the apostle intended 
temporal calamities, and overthrow, and destruction. 



SECTION XC1X. 

1 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish 5 
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should 
believe a lie : That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, 
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' — 2 Thess. ii. 10 — 12. 

The same subject is here continued which is em- 
braced in ver. 3 and 8, the notes on which will assist in 
illustrating the meaning of this passage. Some have been 
the more confident that endless misery is here intended, 
because the word damned occurs. But that the whole 
passage indicates no misery except what belongs to the 
present existence, and no destruction beyond the death 
of the body, is allowed by the orthodox writers quoted 
below. 

1. Hammond. ' And by baits of lusts, &c, they work 
upon the generality of wicked, carnal christians, and this 
21 



242 SELECTIONS FROM 

as a punishment for their not being brought to sincere 
repentance and true faith, by the gospel, but preferring 
the satisfaction of their own humors, and passions, and 
prejudices, before the doctrine of Christ, when it came 
with the greatest conviction, and evidence, and authority, 
among them. And this is the cause why God suffers 
mere magicians to deceive them by false miracles, and 
by that means to bring them to believe all kind of 
falseness, false gods, false ways of worship, deceitful 
cheating, false miracles, to get authority to those and 
all manner of heathen, licentious, vicious practices, the 
consequents of those errors, and the most contrary to 
evangelical truth ; that so filling up the measure of their 
objurations, they may fall under condemnation, or be 
judged and discerned to be what they are — impenitent 
infidels, and accordingly remarkably punished.' Par. 
in loc. 

It need only be added, that, in his paraphrase and note 
on ver. 6, Dr. H. explains this remarkable punishment 
to be ' the vengeance that befel the Jews by the Roman 
armies, at which time the Gnostics that sided with them 
were destroyed also.' See the passage quoted in its 
place. 

2. Gilpix. ' At length the wicked opposers of the 
truth shall be finally beaten down, who, with all the arts 
and deceptions of Satan, beguiled others, after having 
rejected the truth themselves. As they have pleasure in 
wickedness, they will be, for that reason, deserted by 
God, and left a prey to their own delusions.' Expos, in 
loc. 

3. Pvle. ' Most exquisite and terrible will be the 
divine vengeance upon these people, that will give them- 
selves up to diabolical arts, forged miracles, and lying 
prophecies — abandoned to the pernicious methods of 
fraud, violence, and injustice, and averse to all the clearest 
evidences of true and saving religion. For which irre- 
claimable corruptions, God, in just judgment, will let 
them loose to the prevalent delusions of false prophets 
and pretenders, so that they will embrace the most 
absurd and foolish things, and run headlong into such 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 243 

desperate courses, as must naturally end in the utter 
condemnation and destruction of a people lost to all 
sense of truth and goodness, and dev r oted to falsehood 
and impiety. See all these predictions exactly fulfilled, 
with respect to the Jews, in Josephus, of the Jewish wars.' 
Par. and Note in loc. 



SECTION C. 



' Xot a novice, lest being lifted up by pride he fall into the condemnation 
of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are 
without j lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil/' — 1 Tim. 
iii. 6 ; 7. 

Many are perfectly confident, that, by the word devil, 
in this place, the apostle intended a great apostate spirit, 
who, for his pride and disobedience, was cast out of 
heaven, and doomed to endless torments. They are 
confident, too, that he intended, by those who should fall 
into the snare and condemnation of the devil, to repre- 
sent the wretched souls who shall be cast into the same 
torments. But the orthodox writers, quoted below, give 
a different view concerning both the devil here named, 
and his condemnation. 

1. Dutch Annotations. ' Into the judgment of the 
devil : that is, into such judgment as the devil fell into, 
when, being newly created, he would lift himself up 
against God, for his own wisdom. Others here take 
the Greek word, diabolos, for a slanderer, as it properly 
signifies, arid is taken in this same chapter, ver. 11, and 
2 Tim. iii. 3, and expound it thus : lest lifting up himself 
lie fall into the judgment or accusation of the slanderer, 
to the reproach and scandal of the church of Christ, as 
is also spoken in the following verse. Snare of the devil: 
or snare of the slanderer, as ver. 6, whereby some under- 
stand some dejection of spirit which might come upon 
him, for it is as a snare upon his soul ; others, such 



244 



SELECTIONS FR03I 



reproach, whereby, as with a snare, he might be hindered 
by the devil from duly edifying the church in this his 
calling.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Assembly's Annotations. ' Lest, by reason of his 
sudden advancement to that degree, he take occasion to 
be proud, which will undo him, and so he fall into the 
same condemnation that the devil himself is fallen into. 
Or lest he be subject to the censure of calumniating per- 
sons.' Annot. in loc. 

3. Benson. ' In ver. 7, tou diabolou seems to signify 
of the accuser; and so would I render it here, (ver. 6,) 
and not understand it of the devil, but of any man, or 
woman, that watched for the faults of christians, and was 
ready to accuse them. So the word evidently signified, 
ver. 11, and is very properly rendered slanderers, in our 
common English translation. So it signifleth (as I ap- 
prehend,) John vi. 70.' Par. in loc. 

4. Fell. ' Becoming contemptible, and so not able 
to perform his duty as he should, and giving occasion 
to the heathen to blaspheme Christianity.' Note in loc. 



SECTION CI. 



' Hiving damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.'* — 
1 Tim. v. 12. 

That the word damnation, in this place, does not 
import any punishment to be endured in the future life, 
is admitted in the following quotations : — - 

2. Dutch Annotations. ' Having guilt : i. e., having 
done a thing which is blameworthy, and for which they 
are to be dispraised and blamed. Others take the word, 
judgment, for condemnation or damnation, and the first 
faith for the christian faith, which they had professed 
before in baptism. But seeing Paul here speaks of 
marriage, which no man denies or abjures in baptism, 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 245 

therefore it is here fitly taken somewhat more mildly, for 
dispraising or blaming; as is also to be gathered from 
verse 14.' Annot. in loc, 

2. Assembly's Annotations. ' Or, being liable to just 
censure.' Annot. in loc. 

3. Clarke. ' Having damnation : in the sense in which 
we use this word, I am satisfied, the apostle never in- 
tended it. It is likely that he refers here to some pro- 
mise or engagement which they made when taken on the 
list already mentioned ; and now they have the guilt of 
having violated that promise ; this is the krima, or con- 
demnation, of which the apostle speaks.' Com. in loc. 

4. Wakefield. They 6 are blameable for laying aside 
their first resolution.' Trans, in loc. 

5. Rosenmuller. * Krima, in this place, does not 
imply endless damnation, but is used in a more broad 
sense, for a crime, or a fault obnoxious to reprehension,' 
Scholia in loc. 



SECTION CII. 

1 But they that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a snare, and into 
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and per- 
dition.' — 1 Tim. vi. 9. 

Some of the commentators make no remark whatever 
on this verse ; others explain the destruction and per- 
dition to mean torment in the future life. I do not 
recollect that any one of them has distinctly explained 
the verse as having relation wholly to the present exist- 
ence ; yet, for some reason, it is seldom, if ever, quoted 
in the present day ? in proof of misery after death, 
21* 



246 SELECTIOx\S FROM 



SECTION cm. 

< If we suffer, we shall also reign with him : if we deny him ? he also 
will deny us/'— 2 Tim. ii. 12. 

I know not what should induce so many commenta- 
tors to refer this verse to the concerns of the next life ; 
yet several have done it. The reader will discover, 
however, by referring to the notes on Mark viii. 38, and 
the parallel places, that Lightfoot, Pearce, Wynne, 
Hammond, Gilpin, and Beausobre and Lenfant, explain 
a similar passage solely with relation to the concerns of 
the present life. Why they have not explained this in 
the same manner, I am unable to see. Some of them, 
it is true, have said nothing on this place ; and it is, 
perhaps, fair to conclude, that they understood it as they 
explained the other. But others of them, for some 
reason, have interpreted this in the manner already 
mentioned ; yet it is no part of my present labor to dis- 
cuss the question, whether, in so doing, they have con- 
tradicted themselves or not. 

From what follows, the reader will perceive, that at 
least one commentator, of acknowledged skill and sa- 
gacity, did not consider this passage to afford proof, that 
those who thus denied Christ should unavoidably suffer 
endless misery. 

Grotius. * If we deny — that is, him, which is man- 
ifestly to be understood, from the opposite member of the 
sentence, and from Matt. x. 33 — he will deny us ; he 
will not acknowledge us for his own, nor receive us 
to a participation of his blessings. See what is said on 
Matt. x. 33. Annot. in loc. 

In the place to which he here refers, Grotius very 
plainly declares his opinion, that a denial of Christ does 
not necessarily involve endless torment ; but on repen- 
tence, this sin, like others, may be forgiven. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 247 

'Christ requires not only belief in the heart, but con- 
fession with the lips, Rom. x. 10. But as the preceding 
promise includes the condition of perseverance, so this 
is to be understood as involving the condition that he will 
deny us unless there be a subsequent repentance, as in 
the case of Peter,' &c. Annot. in Matt. x. 33. 



SECTION CIV. 



' For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgres- 
sion and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, How shall 
we escape ; if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to 
be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard 
him. ; — Heb. ii. 2, 3. 

These words are frequently quoted to prove that those 
who neglect the great salvation shall be endlessly mis- 
erable. But the standard writer, quoted below, gives 
them a very different interpretation : — 

Hammond. ( For if the law were given only by the 
mediation, or ministry of angels, and yet the threats 
on breaking of that did come to pass, and all the sins 
committed by the Israelites against that were severely 
punished in the wilderness, and they that had provoked 
were not permitted to enter into the promised land of 
Canaan — how shall we avoid that punishment, or the 
like, being involved with the crucifiers in their destruction, 
if we do not now, by constancy and perseverance, make 
ourselves capable of that deliverance, which Christ first 
at his being on earth, and the apostles that heard it of 
him, have assured us of.' Par. in he. 

It need scarcely be observed again, that, by the de- 
struction of the crucifiers, Dr. Hammond almost inva- 
riably means the overthrow of the Jewish nation by the 
Romans. He has effectually guarded against any mis- 
take, in the present instance, by adding a note, in which 
he interprets the punishment in his usual manner ; and, 



248 SELECTIONS FROM 

in conformity with this interpretation of the punishment, 
he says the great salvation, here mentioned, was the 
signed deliverance of the faithful, long promised, and 
which, at the writing of this epistle, was approaching, 
or near at hand. See, also, his note on Matt. x. 22, 
quoted in its place. 



section cv. 

' So I Bware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. — And to 
whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that 
believe not ? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. — 
Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, 
any of you should seem to come short of it." — Heb. iii. 11, 18, 19, and iv. 1. 

It has been supposed, that, by not entering into rest, 
is here meant, exclusion from final salvation. But a 
different view is given below : — 

Hammond. A long note is given, by this writer, on 
chap. iii. 11, in which, after defining the rest to have 
denoted at first, the peaceable possession of the land of 
Canaan, and the enjoyment of God's presence and wor- 
ship, and observing, that as the Israelites originally ob- 
tained rest by the expulsion of the Canaanites, so the 
believing christians should obtain rest, and quietness, and 
peace, by the destruction of the persecuting Jews, he 
proceeds thus : — 

1 The only thing farther to be observed, (and wherein 
the parallel was to hold most remarkably, and which is 
the special thing that is pressed in this place,) is the fate 
of the disobedient, murmuring Israelites, who were so 
impatient of the hardships that befel them in their pas- 
sage towards this rest, that they frequently, and foully 
fell off from God, and returned to the sins, and idolatries, 
and villainies of heathen Egypt, from whence they were 
rescued by God ; all these were excluded from this rest 



EMINENT COMMENT AT' 249 

of thai ^feneration, only Caleb and Joshua, which were 
not of the number of these provokers ed to that 

were allowed entrance into Canaan. And jtu 
the O that in t) 

horrid villain i _ 

I 
were certainly 

struck in anc j* to 

using the - to attain 

\ ::. I 

or shall adhere 
sent as, and never murmur, nor pr 

I :. 1 ; : . : . 
- irofesg 

L this is a ms of ex- 

vhole fourth chapter c: id the 

sabba: »tly severed from the seventh 

hieh remaineth, (an 3 
tly to be had,) to the people : < 
since. tant christians, the true Israelite 

and - 10. 11, where also the paralle 

Ps giving, and thai 

it was a cc e six 

. ver. 10, so is this 

. a remark 
all th ler the 

jlievers ight upon them, and it is ac- 

l Th 3ss, 

'■:' "-.■*. e: 
ig as il fell >u1 u 

some things, resembled the 

iter the creation, (in being m from works 

of weight and dime 

so also in respect >f the time of observ- 
ing it. the :her things, is the rep- 



250 SELECTIONS FROM 

resentation and commemoration of the deliverance out 
: Egypt, in respect of the tasks and stripes from which 
ere freed, and of the plentiful condition to which 
they were brought, so may the word rest, prophesied 
of by the plalmist, as still future, both after the cre- 
ation, and after the entering into Canaan , so many years, 
be fitly interpreted rest from persecutions, and have one 
eminent completion to this, the Christian's peaceable enjoy- 
ment of Christian assemblies, which was now, through the 
conduct of God, approaching them. 7 Annct. in loc. 

In accordance with the foregoing exposition; Ham- 
mond gives the following paraphrase of chap. iv. 1 — 

■ Upon those words of God, chap. iii. 15, (an ominous 
admonition, if it be not heeded,) we hare great reason 
to fear, lest that promise of coming to God ? s rest, (as for 
those oti naan.) being made to us, a promise 

of deliverance from our persecutors, and peaceable days 
of professing the gospel attending it, (see chap. iii. 11, 
(we may yet, by our disobedience, miss of attaining to it.' 
Par. in loc. 



zioy CVL 



* Of the doctrines of baptism*, and of Urine on of hands, and of resar- 
reetkni of the dead, and of eternal judgment.' — Hi b 

This eternal judgment is generally supposed to mean 
a day of judgment in the future life, to be succeeded by 
the endless happiness of some men, and the endless 
misery of others. But a different interpretation is ■ 
by the eminent writer quoted below. 

" Peikce. In order to give a full riew of this author's 
opinion concerning this text, the reader will pardon me 
for introducing his note entire, which, though somewhat 
long, will repay an attentire perusal : — 

■ And of the resurrection of ike dead; this, together with 



-:: 




252 SELECTIONS FROM 

before my lord the king." And remarkable is the pas- 
sage of St. Paul, 2 Cor. i. 8 — 10, " We would not, breth- 
ren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us 
in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above 
strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life ; but 
we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we 
should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the 
dead ; who delivered us from so great a death, and doth 
deliver ; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." 
Again, Rom. xi. 15 — "If the casting away of them [the 
Jews,] be the reconciling of the [Gentile] world, what 
shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead V 

6 If such a death and resurrection may be here under- 
stood, there can be nothing more pertinent than the 
great miracle which God wrought for the deliverance of 
the Jews, when he first set up the Mosaic institution. 
The people, being hemmed in between the sea on the one 
side, and Pharaoh and his army on the other, could look 
upon themselves as no other than dead men, and there- 
fore, Exod. xiv. 11 — " They said unto Moses, Because 
there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away 
to die in the wilderness." And if the restoration of 
Israel is described as a raising dead and dry bones to 
life, Ezek. xxxvii. 1 — 14, why may not such an eminent 
deliverance as God then gave them from Pharaoh and his 
army, be spoken of in like manner ? This had the effect 
which might well be expected to promote their repen- 
tance and faith towards God, as we read, Exod. xiv. 31 — 
" And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did 
upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and 
believed in the Lord, and in his servant Moses." 

' And of eternal judgment : the common interpretation 
makes this to refer to the final judgment. And, were 
this granted, what was said in the preceding note might 
easily be here applied to show that this principle was 
held by the Jews, as well as it is by christians. But, 
farther, is it likely that our author would pretend to 
waive this, when he really, in the progress of his epistle, 
insists considerably upon it, chap. ix. 27, 28, x. 27 — 37 1 
Besides, I do not find that ever the final judgment has 
this epithet given to it. The life the righteous shall go 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 253 

into is said to be aionios, everlasting, as is also the pun- 
ishment of the wicked, Matt. xxv. 46, and the fire where- 
with they shall be tormented, ver. 41. There is no 
difficulty, therefore, about the words being applied to the 
effects and consequences of the sentences that will then 
be passed ; but the time in which the trial is made and 
the sentences passed is always supposed to be limited and 
have an end, and that after this follows the actual retri- 
bution, according to the sentences respectively passed 
upon those who are judged ; nor is that judgment ever, 
that I remember, said to be eternal. 

■ I think, therefore, that the words are to be understood 
in a very different manner, and krima here seems to me 
to be put for temporal judgments. Thus the word is 
used, 1 Pet. iv. 17, the time is come that judgment must 
begin at the house of the God, where the context will not 
suffer us to take it in any other sense ; Comp. ver. 16, 18, 
19. So again, 1 Cor. xi. 29 — He that eateth and drinlceth 
unworthily , eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not dis- 
cerning the hordes body. What this judgment was, 
appears by the next verse — for this cause many are weak 
and sickly among you, and many sleep. S # ee also ver. 34. 
The word aionios, which we have rendered eternal, I 
take to respect not the time to come, but the time past, 
and to signify ancient, or past long ago. That the word 
is thus used without any respect to eternity, we may see, 
Rom. xvi. 25, 2 Tim. L 9, Tit. i. 2. See also these places 
in the LXX., Psalm Ixxvii. 5, Prov. xxii. 28, Jer. xviii. 
15, Ezk. xxxvi. 2. According to this account of the 
words, we may consider the Jewish religion as estab- 
lished by the ancient and tremendous judgments, of the 
execution of which, the books of Moses give an account ; 
such as the deluge, the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- 
rah, and more especially the drowning of Pharaoh and 
his host in the Red Sea, and .perhaps the judgments of 
God upon the Israelites in the wilderness for their im- 
penitence and unbelief. Of this last he had, indeed, 
treated before, but not as a foundation of the Jewish 
religion, but as an example by which christians might 
be warned.' Note in loc. 
22 



254 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION CVII. 

1 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have? 
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghosty 
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to 
come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance 3 see- 
ing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an 
open shame. For the earth wkich drinketh in the rain that cometh oft 
upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, 
receiveth blessing from God : But that which beareth thorns and briers is 
rejected, and is nigh unto cursing 5 whose end is to be burned.' — Heb. 
vi. 4—8. 

This impossibility of renewal to repentance is sup- 
posed by some to imply the endless sin and misery of 
such apostates as are here described; yet some of the 
orthodox commentators think differently : — 

1. Macknight. ' The apostle does not mean that it 
is impossible for God to renew a second time, by repent- 
ance, an apostate ; but that is it impossible for the minis- 
ters of Christ to convert a second time, to the faith of the 
gospel, one who, after being made acquainted with all 
the proofs by which God hath thought fit to establish 
Christ's mission, shall allow himself to think him an im- 
postor, and renounce his gospel. The apostle, knowing 
this, was anxious to give the Hebrews just views of the 
ancient oracles, in the hope that it would prevent them 
from apostatizing.' Note in he. 

2. Rosenmuller. ' Adunaton, in this place, does not 
mean absolutely impossible, but rather a thing so difficult, 
that it may be nearly impossible ; thus we are accustom- 
ed to say of very many things, in common conversation.' 
Scholia in he. 

3. Clarke. ' Is nigh to cursing: it is acknow- 
ledged, almost on all hands, that this epistle was writ- 
ten before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Ro- 
mans. This verse is, in my opinion, a proof of it ; and 
here I suppose the apostle refers to that approaching 
destruction, and perhaps he has this all along in view, but 
speaks of it covertly, that he might not give offence. 5 

Dr. Clarke then goes on to say, that ' there is a good 
sense in which all these things may be applied to the Jews 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 255 

at large ;' and after making this application, and showing 
in what manner all the apostle says was true of them, he 
closes by saying that this nation ' was nigh unto cursing — 
about to be cast off from the divine protection, and their 
city and temple were shortly to be burnt up by the Ro- 
man armies. Thus the apostle, under the case of indi- 
viduals, points out the destruction that was to come upon 
this people in general, and which actually took place 
about seven years after the writing of this epistle. And 
this appears to be the very subject which the apostle has 
in view in the parallel solemn passages, chap. x. 26 — 31, 
and viewed in this light, much of their obscurity and diffi- 
culty vanishes away.' Com. in loc. 

4. Calmet. ' Many believe that impossible is here 
used simply for difficult. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. 
38, has noticed five senses in which a thing is ordinarily 
said to be impossible. — One thing is impossible from its 
nature, another from custom, a third from equity and 
justice, a fourth from the state of the will, a fifth is ab- 
solutely and really impossible. We say, for example, 
that an infant is not able to wrestle, nor a puppy to see ; 
but the one may be able to wrestle, when he shall have in- 
creased in strength, and the other to see after certain 
days. Secondly, it is said that a city placed on the top 
of a mountain cannot be concealed, which, in a certain 
sense, is true ; yet the thing is not absolutely impossi- 
ble, because it may be hid behind a still higher moun- 
tain. Thirdly, it is said, the children of the bridecham- 
ber cannot fast while the bridegroom remains with them ; 
that is, that this would be neither just nor becoming. 
Fourthly, it is said, Matt. xiii. 38, that Jesus Christ could 
not perform many miracles in Nazareth, on account of 
the incredulity of the inhabitants ; that is, he did not 
choose to manifest his power to them, in which they had 
so little faith. Lastly, it is utterly impossible that the 
whole should be greater than all its parts, or that God 
should be unjust.' 

To show that he did not consider the reformation of 
such a backslider as the text describes, to be utterly 
impossible, Calmet says that ' St. Paul by no means 
intended to exclude the baptism of tears and of repent- 



256 SELECTIONS FROM 

ance, for the expiation of those sins which we commit 
after regeneration, for as much as he often commends 
this ; and he received again into the church the incestuous 
Corinthian, after that sin, on account of which he had 
before anathematized him. Our Saviour, also, when con- 
ferring on Peter and the other apostles the power of 
binding and loosing, did not except a single sin : — 
" Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in 
heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall 
be loosed in heaven." Matt. xiv. 19.' Com. in loc. 



SECTION CV1II. 



'And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg- 
ment : So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many 5 and unto 
them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto 
salvation.'— Heb. ix. 27, 28. 

The orthodox commentators agree in supposing the 
natural death of man, and a judgment in the future life, 
to be here intended. One of them, however, seems to 
have had a right view of the passage in part, although, 
like the others, he refers the death to the death of the 
body, and the judgment to a period in the future life. 
I shall quote that portion of his remarks, which seems 
correct : — 

Cappe. ' In allusion, therefore, to the high priest's 
offering on the day of annual atonement, it may be said 
of him, [Christ,] in one view, that he has offered his own 
blood to God in the holy of holies, for the sanctification 
of his people, and since this sacrifice is not to be repeated, 
and he is no more to be subject to the infirmities of this 
mortal state, in another view it may be said of him, with 
respect to what is to be seen of him in this world here- 
after, that he will come forth like the high priest from 
the presence of God, to those who are waiting for him in 
the courts of God's house, to show himself unto them as 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 257 

accepted of God, and to pronounce a blessing on them 
in his name : so after his ascension he came to his dis- 
ciples in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and so he will come 
to those of his faithful followers that shall endure unto 
the end, to preserve them from the calamities with 
which, before this generation passes away, he is to visit 
the hypocrite and the unbeliever.' Crit. Rem. vol. ii. 
pp. 317, 3J8. 

If Cappe had not said previously, that he supposed 
the apostle to speak of man's natural death, and a 
judgment in the future life, we might have supposed his 
views did not differ materially from those of a majority 
of Universalists. As it is, indeed, he seems to have had 
a correct understanding of a part of the subject, as may 
appear by the foregoing quotation. 

I need not give an extended account of the views 
entertained of this passage by Universalists ; I merely 
observe, that the majority of them, I think, understand 
it as it is interpreted in a sermon on this text, by Rev. 
H. Ballou, (which is the first in the recent edition of 
his select sermons,) and in the ' Trumpet/ vol. iii. p. 
17. 



SECTION CIX. 



'Let us consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good works. 
'Not forsaking the asembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some 
is ; but exhorting one another : and so much the more, as ye see the day 
approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the 
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. But 
a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall 
devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy 
under two or three witnesses : Of how much sorer punishment, suppose 
ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of 
<God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanc- 
tified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace 1 For 
we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recom- 
pense , saith the Lord, And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a 
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 7 — Heb. x. 24 — 31. 

This passage is often alleged to prove the misery of 

22* 



258 SELECTIONS FROM 

sinners after death. The last clause is a choice one for 
those public speakers who are fond of strongly exciting 
the fears of an audience. Bnt that there is no necessity 
for going into another state of existence to find the true 
application of the apostle's language, is admitted in the 
following quotations. The first, it will be noticed, is not 
a regular commentary on the text, but it is an incidental 
remark, occurring in the illustration of another passage. 
Yet it is not the less valuable on that account ; for the 
writer distinctly asserts, that this text ought to be inter- 
preted according to the principles he had laid down. 

1. Lightfoot. 'Now what is meant by cutting off '? 
if you ask some, they will put a sense of their own upon 
the phrase, and tell you it means a cutting off or separa- 
ting a person from the congregation and public assemblies, 
by excommunication. But ask the Jews, to and among 
whom the thing was spoken, what it means in their com- 
mon speech and acceptation, and they will tell you, cut- 
ting off means, death by the hands of heaven, death or de- 
struction by the hand of God ; interpreting the matter to 
this purpose, that, if a person sinned wilfully and pre- 
sumptuously, there was no sin-offering allowed in that 
case ; but the party, so offending, fell immediately under 
liableness to divine vengeance, to be destroyed, or cut off, 
by the hand of heaven. 

' And this interpretation of the phrase of cutting off, 
the apostle Paul doth justify in that passage, (Heb. x. 26,) 
If ive sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of 
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin; but a 
certain fearful looking for of judgment ,' &c. Sermon 
on 1 John, v. 16. 

2. Hammond. * The day approaching, (ver. 25:) the 
notion of the day of Christ, and day and coming of Christ, 
and kingdom of God, and many the like, signifying that 
famous destruction of the Jews, hath been often men- 
tioned. The other phrases have been gathered together 
from their dispersions through this book. Note on Matt. 
iii. 2, xxiv. 3, &c. Now for this phrase, day, or day of 
Christ, although somewhat hath been said on Rom. xiii. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 259 

12, yet now more fully it must be explained. The force 
of the phrase may appear, Zech. xiv. 1, Behold the day 
of the Lord cometh, and 1 will gather all nations against 
Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, fyc. And 
so in many places in the Old Testament : and accordingly 
in the new, Luke xvii. 24, the Son of man in his day, that 
is, when he comes to destroy Jerusalem ; and so Matt, 
xxiv. 36, of that day and hour, that is, the punctual time 
of this destruction, (not of the day of the last judgment, 
but of somewhat that was to come in that age, ver. 34,) 
knows no man. So Luke xvii. 30, the day wherein the Son 
of man shall be revealed: and ver. 31, in that day, and 
xix. 40, the days shall come in tvhich thy enemies shall cast 
a trench. So Acts ii. 20, the great and conspicuous day of 
the Lord, from which none of the Jews should escape, 
but only the believers. In which place, as it is cited out 
of Joel, it is observable that there is first mention of the 
last days, \ ex. 11, (which as the Jews render the days 
of the 31essias, so Peter interprets the time after the re- 
surrection of Christ, in which the spirit was poured out,) 
then of this great day, ver. 20, which is, as it were, the 
last of the last, forty years after his resurrection, in which 
Judea was to be laid waste. So 1 Cor. i. 8, the day of 
the Lord Jesus, agreeable to the revelation of the Lord 
Jesus, ver. 12, both of them denoting this time of judg- 
ment on unbelievers, and deliverance of the faithful. See 
also chap. iii. 13. So 1 Thess. v., as times and seasons, 
ver. 1, refer to this matter, (as, the time is come, Ezek. ii. 
7,) so the day of the Lord cometh as a thief, ver. 2, (the 
same that is said of it, 2 Pet. iii. 10,) belongs to this 
matter also. So 2 Thess. i. 10, in that day. So here, 
the day approaching, as Luke xxi. 8, the season approach- 
eth, or as Joel ii. 1, the day of the Lord is come, ii is nigh- 
at hand. So the day dawning, 2 Pet. i. 19, is that day 
of judgment to the Jews, and deliverance to the believers 
among them. 

8 And that this phrase should thus signify, will not 
be strange, when it is considered, that, in all languages 
and idioms, the word day signifies judgment here on 
earth. So 1 Cor. iii. 13, the day shcdl declare, that is, the 
judgment or trial ; and man's day, 1 Cor. iv. 2, that is, 



260 SELECTIONS FROM 

the judgment of men. So dies in Latin, diem dicere, to 
implead, and in English, a day's man, an umpire, or judge. 
(See note on Matt. iii. 2, and xxiv. 3.) That this is the 
meaning of this place, will appear by the scope of the 
place, which is to comfort them which were ready to fall 
off from Christianity, upon the continued persecutions of 
the christians by the Jews, among whom these Hebrew 
christians lived, as w r ill appear in the story, Acts xi. 19, 
and 1 Thess. ii. 14, the approach of whose destruction 
must consequently be matter of comfort to them that had 
suffered long, and so of keeping them from falling away. 
And secondly, it will appear, by the plain words that 
follow to this very purpose, to sustain their patience, ver. 
37, yet a little while, and he that cometh, that is, Christ, 
who hath promised to come to their punishment, and 
your relief, loill come, (and that notes this particular, the 
destruction of the Jews, which is called his coming, Matt, 
xxiv.,) and he will not tarry, that notes the approach of 
that day. And to this purpose, to confirm men in patient 
expectation of this, without all disheartening by the delay, 
follow all those examples of faith, chap, xi., in which it 
appears that many depended by faith on performances 
of promises to their posterity, which were never per- 
formed to themselves personally, and so might very well 
fortify the Hebrews for an expectation of a far shorter 
time, it being now very near at hand. The same is 
expressed, when it draws nigher at hand, by the last 
hour, 1 John ii. 18.' Annot. in loc. 

In conformity with this exposition of the time to which 
the apostle refers. Dr. Hammond, in his paraphrase of 
the whole passage, interprets it concerning the fearful 
and overwhelming destruction which should come upon 
the unbelieving Jews, and Gnostic christians, and the 
consequent deliverance of the faithful from persecution. 
On verse 27, he refers to his note, 2 Pet. iii. 10, some 
extracts of which will be found in their proper place. 
He closes thus : — 

' For we know it is the Lord that said, Vengeance is 
mine, &c, and again, Psalm exxxv. 14, that God will 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 261 

avenge his people, (his church,) and consequently will 
avenge the cause of those which now suffer among you, 
against their persecutors, in his time, if you can patiently 
wait for it. To which purpose you can be armed with 
this consideration, that it is not near so formidable a 
thing to be persecuted and punished by mortal men, as 
by him that lives forever.' Par. in loc. 

3. Cappe. This writer understands the whole chap" 
ter to be descriptive of events which should occur at the 
close of the Jewish age. See his remarks, quoted at 
length, among the notes on Heb. x. 39. 

4. Whitby. * The day approaching, (ver. 25) : i. e., 
the day of the Lord's coming to destroy the unbelieving 
Jews, and to execute his vengeance on them, for reject- 
ing and crucifying their Messiah, styled by St. Luke, the 
days of vengeance, chap. xxi. 22. The day of the Lord's 
coming which who can bear ? saith the prophet, Mai. iii. 
2 ; the day burning like an oven ; the day coming that shall 
so burn up them that do wickedly, as not to leave them root 
or branch, Mai. iv. 1 ; the day of the Lord drawing near, 
when all the inhabitants of the land shall tremble, Joel ii. 
1 ; the great and terrible day of the Lord, ver. 11, 31, the 
day of the Son of Man. That this is the meaning of the 
place, will appear from the scope of the apostle, which 
is to terrify them he writes to, by the consideration of 
that dreadful day of vengeance threatened to the unbe- 
lieving Jews, not only by our Lord, but their own pro- 
phets, and now near at hand ; as it follows from ver. 26, 
to ver. 31 .' Annot. in loc. 



SECTION CX. 



1 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition 3 but of them 
that believe to the saving of the soul. ; — Heb. x. 39. 

Many understand the saving of the soul, in this place, 



262 SELECTIONS FROM 

to mean the obtaining of endless happiness in the future 
life ; and, by contrast, perdition is supposed to mean 
endless misery. But there is good and sufficient ortho- 
dox authority for interpreting the whole verse to relate 
only to the concerns of the present state of existence, 
except thai perdition may indicate natural death. 

1. Lightfoot. l As Christ's pouring down his ven- 
geance, in the destruction of that city and people, is called 
his " coming in his glory," and his "coming in judg- 
ment ;" and as the destruction of that city and nation is 
charactered, in scripture, as the destruction of the whole 
w T orld — so there are several passages that speak of the 
nearness of that destruction, that are suited according to 
such characters. Such is that in 1 Cor. x. 11, " Upon us 
the ends of the world are come;" 1 Pet. iv. 7, "The 
end of all things is at hand ;" Heb. x. 37, " Yet a little 
while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not 
tarry" ' Sermon on James v. 9. 

The verse here quoted by Lightfoot is in the imme- 
diate context of the passage under consideration ; and 
no one pre: ends that the two verses relate to different 
periods of time ; his testimony, therefore, is as valuable, 
and, in fact, as direct, as it would be, had he referred to 
the text itself. 

2. Rosenmuller. ' We do not abandon our religion, 
moved by fear of calamities, but constantly profess it. 
Peripoiesis pitches, [the saving of the soul,] is the pos- 
session of life, happiness, safety ; for to possess life often 
indicates the enjoyment of happiness.' Scholia in loc. 

3. Wakefield. ' But we are not they who withdraw 
unto destruction, but who faithfully persevere, to the de- 
liverance of our lives.' Trans, in loc, 

4. Clarke. ' We are not cowards who slink away, 
and, notwithstanding, meet destruction; but we are faith- 
ful, and have our souls saved alive. The words peripoiesis 
psuches signify the preservation of the life, see the note 
Eph. i. 14. He intimates, that, notwithstanding the per- 
secution was hot, yet they should escape with their UvesS 
Com. in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 263 

5. Cappe. 'Many passages in this epistle to the 
Hebrews relate solely, as I think, to the visitation of the 
Jews, foretold in Matt. xxiv. Or, however, if not solely, 
yet to that catastrophe in conjunction with other events 
that were conceived to be contiguous to it in point of 
time. However, beyond that time, these passages do not 
look ; neither those in St. Paul's undoubted epistles, nor 
those in this epistle to the Hebrews. In chap. ix. ver. 
26, which we have been considering, the author evidently 
speaks of that age, the sunteleia ton aionon, (conclusion 
of the age, or ages.) In chap. x. ver. 25, he speaks of 
the day approaching, that great and terrible day of the 
Lord, when he was to fulfil his promises of deliverance 
to his faithful servants from their persecutors, (comp. 
ver. 23,) and to take vengeance on their enemies, ver. 27, 
and 30 ; when he wasfo judge his people, i. e., the Jews, 
at the time near approaching, (ver. 37,) when this epistle 
was composed. The whole of chap, x., to me, man- 
ifestly speaks of that visitation, and in terms which, 
though they are different from those in which St. Paul 
speaks of that event in the 2d of Thessalonians, at the 
beginning, have yet a considerable resemblance thereto. 5 
Crit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 319. 



SECTION CXI. 



1 Follow peace with all men, and holiness ; without which no man shall 
see the Lord.'— Heb. xii. 14. 

It is supposed, by some, that to see the Lord implies 
a state of happiness after death ; and hence they con- 
clude, that this verse indicates that some shall never be 
saved. But, however true it is, that all must be holy 
before they can enjoy happiness after death, it is cer- 
tainly as true, that no man can enjoy that state of hap- 
piness in the present life, which is indicated by seeing 
the Lord, except in the same degree that he is purified 



264 SELECTIONS FROM 

from sin, and made holy. In the following quotation, it 
is admitted that, in the sense in which the apostle speaks, 
men may see the Lord in the present life, if duly quali- 
fied ; hence this text may have its application to the 
concerns of this life, without special reference to the 
future. 

Lawson. ' To see God, as many understand it, is 
immediately and clearly to behold God's glory, which is 
a privilege reserved for heaven. Thus to see him, is that 
which they call intuitive knowledge, and beatifical vision, 
from which, unspeakable joys, and eternal delights, do 
ever issue. Yet it is an Hebrew expression, and signifies 
to enjoy ; therefore, to see God is to enjoy him, and to 
have some special union und communion with him, and 
derive some happiness from him, either by grace in this 
life, and glory in the life to come. By holiness we may 
see and enjoy him ; and according to the measure of our 
holiness, is the measure of our enjoyments. The more 
holy we are, the nearer fellowship We have with him, 
and derive more joy and comfort from him.' Eijws. in loc. 

This text can afford no proof that any man shall be 
endlessly miserable, until it be first proved that such a 
one shall never become holy. If all become holy, all 
will see or enjoy the Lord ; their enjoyment will be in 
proportion to their holiness, whether in this life or the 
next. It is for the present advantage of men to follow 
holiness, as thereby they have communion with God, 
and enjoy him, -while they yet tabernacle in the flesh. 



SECTION CXII. 



"For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the 
blessing, he was rejected : for he found no place of repentance, though 
he sought it carefully with tears. 7 — Heb. xii. 17. 

It has been the fancy of some, that Esau must be 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 265 

excluded from the enjoyment of happiness in the future 
life : and in support of their opinion they have adduced 
this text, saying, no one can be saved without repen- 
tance ; but Esau found no place for repentance ; there- 
fore he cannot be saved. That this is a very wrong 
view of the text, is asserted in the following quota- 
tions : — 

1. Clarke. ' Repentance : here metanoia is not to be 
taken in a theological sense, as implying contrition for 
sin, but merely change of mind or purpose ; nor does the 
word here refer to Esau at all, but to his father, whom 
Esau could not, with all his tears and entreaties, persuade 
to reverse what he had done. I have blessed him, said 
he, yea, and he must be blessed ; I cannot reverse it now. 
Nothing spoken here by the apostle, nor in the history 
in Genesis, to which he refers, concerns the eternal state 
of either of the two brothers. 5 Com. in loc. 

2. Rosenmuller. ' Eulogia (the blessing, ) signifies 
the paternal benediction — the invocation especially of 
the blessings of the land of Canaan, and generally the 
blessings which were connected with the right of primo- 
geniture. Esau, indeed, received a blessing, but not that 
which belonged to the first-born ; Gen. xxvii. 32 — 40. 
He ivas not able to persuade his father to change his mind; 
for metanoia (repentance,) is mentioned in relation not 
to Esau, but to his father Isaac. Metanoia signifies 
retractation^ a change of mind, or of the invocations, to 
which Esau desired to persuade Isaac, so that he might 
revoke the blessing bestowed upon Jacob.' Scholia in 
loc. 

3. Macknight. ' He was reprobated : not by God, but 
by his father, who, when he knew that he had given the 
blessing to Jacob, refused to retract it, being sensible, 
from his inward feelings, that he had spoken propheti- 
cally, and that God willed him to give the blessing to 
Jacob.' Note in loc, 

4. Calmet. 'Reprobated: (rejected :) this is not to 
be understood of endless reprobation, which closes up 
the way of celestial happiness, but of temporal reproba- 
tion, by reason of which, he could not prevail on his 

23 



266 



SELECTIONS FROM 



father to revoke the blessing which he had bestowed on 
Jacob, although he sought it with tears.' Com. in he. 



SECTION CXIII. 



1 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who 
refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we 
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven : Whose voice then shook 
the earth : but now he hath promised, saying. Yet once more I shake not 
the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signi- 
fieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are 
made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Where- 
fore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, 
whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; 
For our God is a consuming fire.'— He b. xii. 25 — 29. 

This passage is interpreted by several orthodox com- 
mentators, as having especial reference to events which 
were to occur soon after the writing of this epistle. 
They do not, like some in our day, go into another state 
of existence to find the true application of the text, nor 
do they quote it with the very popular gloss, i. e., God 
out of Christ is a consuming fire. But they quote it 
according to the record, and explain it as follows : — 

1. Lightfoot. * The following figures are in the same 
style; 2 Pet. iii. 10 — "The heavens shall pass away 
with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fer- 
vent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein, 
shall be burnt up." How many have no doubt that this 
passage is descriptive of the conflagration of the world 
at the day of judgment. But compare Deut. xxxii. 22 — 
" A fire is kindled in mine anger, and it shall burn unto 
the lowest hell ; and shall consume the earth with her 
increase, and set on fire the foundations of the moun- 
tains." Hag. ii. 6 — " Yet once, it is a little while, and 
I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and 
the dry land." Heb. xii. 26 — " I shake not the earth only, 
but also heaven." Observe, by the elements, the Mosaic 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 267 

institutions are to be understood, Gal. iv. 9, Col. ii. 20, 
as also the apostle has spoken at sundry times ; and then 
you will not doubt that he has here spoken of the con- 
flagration of Jerusalem, the subversion of the nation, and 
of the Mosaic economy.' Tract, de Spir. Proph. § v. 

2. Whitby. c This shaking of heaven and earth being 
to be accomplished at the coming of the Messiah, or the 
desire of all nations, cannot signify the removal and sub- 
version of the material heavens and earth, they being not 
thus shaken at Christ's coming, but this is a metaphor 
frequently used in the prophets, to signify the subversion 
of a state and kingdom, and of the government which 
obtains amongst them, Isa. xiii. 13, xxiv. 19, 20, Joel ii. 
10, Judges v. 4, Psalm Ixxvii. 18. 

6 Consuming fire : to consume thine enemies if thou 
obey him, and to bring them down before thy face, Deut. 
ix. 3, but to consume thee, if thou forget the covenant 
thou hast made with him, Deut. iv. 24. This hath rela- 
tion to the Shekinah, or glorious presence of God, the 
sight of which teas like devouring fire, Exod. xxiv. 17, and 
from which went out fire to consume Nadab and Abihu, 
Lev. x. 2, and those two hundred and fifty persons which 
burned incense, Num. xvi. 35, and of which the psalmist 
speaketh in these words : A fire burned in their congre- 
gation, the flame burnt up the wicked, Psalm cvi. 18. ? 
Annot. in loc. 

3. Clarke. ( Not the earth only, but also heaven : pro- 
bably referring to the approaching destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, and the total abolition of the political and ecclesias- 
tical constitution of the Jews, the one being signified by 
the earth, the other by heaven ; for the Jewish state and 
worship are frequently thus termed in the prophetic 
writings. 

' For our God is a consuming fire : the apostle quotes 
Deut. iv. 24, and by doing so he teaches us this great 
truth — that sin under the gospel is as abominable in God's 
sight, as it was under the law, and that the man who 
does not labor to serve God with the principle, and in the 
way already precribed, will find that fire to consume him 
which would otherwise have consumed his sins.' Com. 
in loc. 



268 SELECTIONS FROM 

4. Hammond. 'And, therefore, be sure ye despise not 
Christ, who is come to deliver God's will unto you ; for 
if they were destroyed, that contemned Moses that de- 
livered the law from Mount Sinai, then much severer 
destruction is to be expected for them that despise the 
commandments of Christ, who delivers them imme- 
diately from heaven. In giving the law, there was an 
earthquake when God spake, and that was somewhat 
terrible ; but bow is the time of fulfilling that prophecy, 
Hag. ii. 7, where God professes to make great changes, 
greater than ever were among them before, even to the 
destroying the whole state of the Jews. For this is the 
notation of the phrase which is rendered yet once, which 
signifies some final ruin, and that very remarkable, as 
here the total subversion of the Jews, of all their law and 
policy, as of things that were made on purpose to be 
destroyed, designed by God only for a time, for that im- 
perfect state, as a forerunner and preparative to the 
gospel, which, therefore, is a state of which there is no 
mention of the shaking it, nor, consequently, of any 
future state that shall succeed it, which signifies that that 
is most certainly to endure forever, till the end of the 
world. We, therefore, that are vouchsafed our part in 
this immutable kingdom, or state under Christ, a condi- 
tion that no persecutions, nor even the gates of hell shall 
prevail against, but it shall be sure, finally, to overcome 
and survive all opposition — let us take care to hold fast, 
and not forsake the gospel, through which we may serve 
God so as he will now accept of, with reverence of so 
glorious a Master, and with fear of his wrath if we do 
provoke him by abusing his mercies. For this gracious 
God, which is our God, will show himself to the provok- 
ing christians, as (or more severely than) he threatened 
to the Israelites, Deut. iv. 24, an emblem of which we 
have, Exod. xxiv. 17, where the sight of the glory of the 
Lord — that is, of his presentiating himself — was like de- 
vouring fire on the top of the mountain. * Par. in loc % 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 269 



SECTION CXIV. 



'Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin j and sin ; when it 
is finished, bringeth forth death.'— James i. 15. 

This passage is somewhat similar to Rom. vi. 21, 
23, to the notes on which the reader is referred for some 
remarks on the meaning of the word death. Some have 
supposed that this word, used as in the text, must signify 
endless misery ; but I know not why it may not as pro- 
perly signify misery in the present life ; and so Rosen- 
muller seems to have viewed the subject. On the 
words, sin, ivhen it is finished, bringeth forth death, 
he has only this remark : — 

' Punishment or misery follows sin, when committed.' 
Scholia in loc. 

He gives no intimation that this must necessarily 
belong to the future life, but seems to consider it a 
declaration of the general fact, that sin will certainly be 
followed by an adequate punishment, but without spe- 
cially designating the time when that punishment shall 
be administered. 



section cxv. 

4 For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no 
mercy 5 and mercy rejoiceth against judgment/ — James ii. 13. 

The apostle is supposed, by some, to indicate, in this 
verse, that endless misery awaits those who, in this life, 
are unmerciful. But the very popular writers, quoted be- 
low, do not seem to have found any proof in the text, that 
the judgment here mentioned should be rendered in the 
future life, but merely to have considered it a declaration, 
23* 



270 SELECTIONS FROM 

that the merciful man should be treated mercifully, while 
the unmerciful should be judged more severely : — 

1. Whitby. ' For he shall have judgment without 
mercy, who hath showed no mercy, and so hath highly 
thwarted the great law of love ; and mercy rejoiceth 
against, or triumpheth over judgment, i. e., enables the 
man to rejoice, as being free from the judgment of con- 
demnation from that God, who, to the merciful, will show 
himself merciful, Psalm xviii. 27. 

' Of this mercy, the Jews were so unmindful, that Jose- 
phus having said, they violated the laics of nature, and pol- 
luted the divinity ivith their injustice towards men, he adds, 
that no good affection was so entirely lost among them, as 
that of mercy S Par. and Annot. in loc. 

2. Grotius. ' Mercy signifies, in our writers, not only 
lenity in administering punishment, but also every kind 
of benevolence, answering to the Hebrew chan, as may 
be seen, Gen. xix. 19, Num. xi. 15, and elsewhere. So, 
also, Matt. ix. 13, xii. 7, xxiii. 23. The law of the gospel 
is, that we do good to all ; and whosoever doth not obey 
this law shall be severely dealt with, Matt. vii. 1, 2, xxv. 
42.' Annot. in loc. 



SECTION CXVI. 



' For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that 
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened 
by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in 
prison : Which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long suffer- 
ing of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, 
wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure 
whereunto, even baptism, doth also now save us, (not the putting away 
of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) 
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Who is gone into heaven, and is 
on the right hand of God ; angels, and authorities, and powers being made 
subject unto him. ? — 1 Pet. iii. 18 — 22. 

By the spirits in prison, many have understood the 
spirits of the damned, now confined in the prison of hell. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 271 

And this, they imagine, furnishes conclusive evidence, 
that some shall endure misery in the future life. But 
several orthodox commentators explain the text with re- 
ference to a subject altogether different from torment 
after death. 

1. Clarke. 'To the spirits in prison: the inhabitants 
of the antediluvian world, who, having been disobedient, 
and convicted of the most flagrant transgressions against 
God, were sentenced, by his just law, to destruction. But 
their punishment was delayed, to see if they would re- 
pent ; and the long suffering of God waited one hundred 
and twenty years, which were granted to them for this 
purpose — during which time, as criminals tried and con- 
victed, they are represented as being in prison, detained 
under the arrest of divine justice, which waited either 
for their repentance, or the expiration of this respite, that 
the punishment pronounced might be inflicted. This I 
have long believed to be the sense of this difficult passage, 
and no other that I have seen is so consistent with the 
whole scope of the place. That the spirit of God did 
strive with, convict, and reprove, the antediluvians, is 
evident from Gen. vi. 3 — " My spirit shall not always 
strive with man, for as much as he is flesh ; yet his days 
shall be one hundred and twenty years." And it was by 
this spirit that Noah became a preacher of righteous- 
ness, and condemned that ungodly world, Heb. xi. 7, 
who would not believe, till wrath, divine punishment, 
came upon them to the uttermost. The word spirits is 
supposed to render this view of the subject improbable, 
because this must mean disembodied spirits ; but this cer- 
tainly does not follow, for the spirits of just men made 
perfect, Heb. xii. 23, certainly means righteous men, and 
men still in the church militant ; and the Father of spirits, 
Heb. xii. 9, means men still in the body ; and the God of 
the spirits of all flesh, Num. xvi. 22, and xxvii. 16, 
means men not in a disembodied stated Com. in loc. 

Dr. Clarke, as the reader will perceive, understands 
the spirits in prison to mean the disobedient antedilu- 
vians ; but it should be observed, he represents them as 



272 SELECTIONS FROM 

having been in prison while they lived, and not after 
they were destroyed by the flood. And, however firmly 
he might have believed that these, or any other men, 
should be punished in the future life, he does not pre- 
tend that proof of such punishment is furnished in the 
text. The next quotation is from a writer who once, as 
he informs us, entertained the same views which are 
expressed in the foregoing note ; but, on more mature 
consideration, he w T as led to interpret the text more 
nearly in conformity to the views of the majority of 
Universalists in the present day. 

2. Leighton. Archbishop Leighton, in the text of 
his commentary on this passage, interprets it to mean, 
c that Jesus Christ did, before his appearing in the flesh, 
speak by his spirit in his servants to those of the fore- 
going ages/ &c. But in a note he holds the following 
language : — 

' Thus I then thought, but do noiv apprehend another 
sense as probable, if not more, even that so much rejected 
by most interpreters — the mission of the Spirit, and 
preaching of the gospel by it, after his resurrection — 
preaching to sinners and converting them, according to 
the prophecy which he first fulfilled in person, and, after, 
more amply in his apostles. That prophecy I mean, 
Isa. Ix. 1, The Spirit vpon him, and it was sent from him 
on his apostles, to preach to spirits in prison, to preach 
liberty to those captives, captive spirits ; and therefore 
called spirits in prison, to illustrate the thing the more, 
by opposition to that spirit of Christ, the spirit of liberty, 
setting them free ; and this to show the greater efficacy 
of Christ's preaching than of Noah's, though he a signal 
preacher of righteousness, yet only himself and his 
family, eight persons saved by him, but multitudes of all 
nations by the spirit and preaching of Chi'ist in the 
gospel; and that by the seal of baptism, and the resur- 
rection of Christ, represented in the return from the 
water, and our dying with him by immersion, and that 
figure of baptism like their ark.' Expository works in 
loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 273 

3. Grotius. ' lie went, after he ascended into heaven, 
as in ver. 22, John xiv. 2, 3, 12, 28, xvi. 7, 28. Christ 
is said to have preached to the Gentiles, because the 
apostles did it, in his name, and by his authority, 2 Cor. 
v. 20, Acts xiii. 47, Rom. xv. 16, Gal. ii. 8, Eph. ii. 17. 
But because Peter would add a reference to the times of 
Noah, in order to show how much more successful was 
the ministry of Christ than that of Noah ; he therefore 
takes the words from that history. For God says, Gen. 
vi. 3/ &c. Annot. in 16c. 

4. Calmet. ' Some suppose that, in this place, St. 
Peter speaks of the preaching of the gospel to the Gen- 
tiles, which work Jesus Christ commenced, and which 
the apostles, in his name, and by his spirit, carried 
forward. They interpret the word prison to signify, 
allegorically, the shades of ignorance, with which the 
Gentiles were enveloped, before they were called to faith 
in the gospel. Jesus Christ says, John v. 25 — "The 
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall 
live ;" which is interpreted to mean the calling of the 
Gentiles to faith. And, Luke iv. 18, our Saviour applies 
to himself these words of Isaiah: "The spirit of the 
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach 
the gospel to the poor : he hath sent me to heal the 
broken-hearted, [to preach deliverance to the captives]." 
And Isaiah himself, speaking of the Messiah, says, xlii. 
6, 7, " I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for 
a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring 
out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in 
darkness out of the prison-house ;" which is generally 
understood to mean the preaching of the gospel to the 
Gentiles. St. Paul frequently (Eph. ii. 17, iv. 8, v. 8, 
Col. i. 13, 1 Thess. v. 4,) alludes to this prison, this cap- 
tivity, and these shades of darkness, in which the Gen- 
tiles were, before they received the gospel. 

'Others, again, understand the body as the prison of 
the soul ; they say that Jesus Christ, by his spirit, where- 
with he inspired Noah, preached to the unbelievers in 
that age, that they should repent, and thus avert the 
wrath of God, who was about to bring a deluge of water 
upon the whole earth, &c. 



274 SELECTIONS FROM 

1 These two last explanations are sanctioned by the 
most learned interpreters ; nor can they be easily re- 
jected, in as much as they remove all difficulties from 
the text, which appears to assert, that Jesus Christ 
descended into hell, to preach to those men who lived 
before Noah, who, having passed through life in unbelief 
and impenitence, were therefore damned. But how can 
it be supposed that Jesus Christ should preach to those 
who had been dead for so many ages, as if they might 
be converted, and might repent of their transgressions ? 

'The opinion which states that Jesus Christ descended 
into hell, to announce his advent to the ancient patriarchs, 
and to deliver them from that species of prison where 
they had so long waited for him, is doubtless true ; and 
we (Catholics) respect it, as an article of our faith ; yet 
it may be doubted whether this be the meaning of St. 
Peter in this place.' Com. in loc. 

5. Hammond. ' Thirdly, by his spirit is evidently here 
meant, that divine power by which he was raised from the 
dead after his crucifixion, and by which he means now to 
act revenge on hiscrucifiers, after a while, if they repent 
not, but in the mean time to preach repentance unto them. 
And that makes the parallel exact between the matter 
here in hand and the story of the old world. Here men 
are divided into two sorts, ver. 17, those that suffer for 
well doing — the pious, constant, yet persecuted chris- 
tians, and those that shall suffer for evil doing — the con- 
tumacious, obdurate, persecuting Jews and Gnostics; as 
there the violent and corrupt on one side, which were, 
after the hundred and twenty years, swept away with the 
deluge, and Nokh (and his family) on the other side, 
who, by being set forth as an example of the godly, de- 
livered out of temptations, 2 Pet. ii. 5, 9, appear to have 
been opposed and wronged by them. And therefore to 
prove (what was undertaken, ver. 17,) that, even in re- 
spect of this world, it is far better to be of the number of 
the persecuted, who shall be delivered, than of the most 
prosperous persecutors, which shall after a time be de- 
stroyed, as the example of Christ was very pertinent, 
ver. 18, who having suffered awhile, was raised in power 
to destroy the crucifiers ; so the example of the old 
world is fitly made use of also,' &c. Annot. in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 275 



SECTION CXVII. 



1 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ; 
"and if it tirst begin at us. what shall the end be of them that obey not the 
gospel of God I And if the righteous scarcely be saved ; where shall the 
ungodly and the sinner appear V — 1 Pet. iv. 17, 13. 

This text is frequently quoted to alarm the uncon- 
verted, and is represented to have reference to final sal- 
vation on the one hand, and endless misery on the other. 
A different view is given below : — 

1. Whitby. 'For the time is come, that judgment 
must, according to our Lord's prediction — Matt. xxiv. 21, 
22, Mark xiii. 13, Luke xxi. 16, 17 — begin at the house 
of God; and if it first begin at us believing Jews, what 
will be the end of them that obey not the gospel of Gocl ? 
And if some of the righteous scarcely be saved — i. e., 
preserved from this burning, ver. 12, being saved, yet so 
as by fire, 1 Cor. iii. 15 — where shall the ungodly and the 
sinner appear in safety from these dreadful judgments 
which are coming on the Jewish nation 1 Prov. xi. 31.' 
Annot. in loc. 

2. Lightfoot. Then they shall deliver you up to be 
afflicted. To this relate those words of Peter, 1 Ep. iv, 
17, " The time is come that judgment must begin at the 
house of God ;" that is, the time foretold by our Saviour 
is now at hand, in which we are to be delivered up to 
persecution, &,c. These words denote that persecution 
which the Jews, now near their ruin, stirred up, almost 
every where, against the professors of the gospel.' Heb, 
and Talm. Exerc. on Matt. xxiv. 9. 

3. Gilpix. ' Thus, amidst the general ruin which is 
coming upon these wicked times, the christian shall have 
his share. But his afflictions will be light, in comparison 
of that great overthrow which shall destroy the Jewish 
nation.' Expos, in loc. 

4. Mackxight. ' That the apostle is not speaking 
here of the difficulty of the salvation of the righteous at 
the day of judgment, will be evident to any one who 
considers, 2 Pet. i. 11 — i( Thus there shall be richly min- 



276 SELECTIONS FROM 

istered to you an entrance into the everlasting kingdom." 
What he speaks of, is the difficulty of the preservation 
of the christians, at the time of the destruction of Jeru- 
salem. Yet they were preserved ; for so Christ promised, 
Matt. xxiv. 13. But the ungodly and wicked Jews were 
saved neither in Judea, nor any where else.' Note in Joe. 
5. Calmet. k ' If the righteous be scarcely able to 
escape, in these days of wrath, what shall be the fate of 
the ungodly ? When God began to exercise vengeance 
upon the Jews, he first permitted the christians to suffer 
many afflictions and persecutions ; but after he had puri- 
fied his church, and proved the virtue of his elect, he 
admonished them to depart from Jerusalem, and its 
borders, and to remove beyond Jordan. Ecclesiastical 
historians relate that they retired to Pella, under the 
protection of King Agrippa, a friend and ally of the 
Romans, to which place the violence of the war did not 
extend. But the remaining Jews experienced the fury 
and the power of their conquerors, who levelled the tem- 
ple, and Jerusalem itself, with the ground, even ploughing 
the earth on which it stood, and slew eleven hundred 
thousand of the Jews. St. Peter alludes to Prov. xi. 31, 
i If the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, how 
much more the wicked and the sinner V The apostle 
follows the version of the LXX.' Com. in Joe. 



>ECTIOX CXVI1I. 



•' But there were false prophets also among the people, even as 
shall be false teachers among you. who privily shall bring in damnable 
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon them- 
selves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways : 
by reason of whom the way of truth shall he evil spoken of. And through 
covetousness shall they with feigned words m^ke merchandise of vou : 
whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not. and their damnation 
slumbereth not.' — 2 Pet. ii. 1 — 3. 

That this passage should be interpreted with refer- 
ence to this life, and not to the next, is admitted in the 
following quotations : — 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 277 

1. Gilpin. ' But as there were false prophets under 
the law, so shall there be false teachers under the gospel, 
who shall introduce vile heresies, denying ev en the Lord 
who bought them, and shall draw upon themselves a 
sudden ruin. They shall influence many, and deceive 
them through interested views, and bring great slander 
on the truth, till their destruction, which is advancing 

apace, shall suddenly overwhelm them. The swift 

destruction seems to correspond with the destruction of 
Jerusalem.' Expos, and Note in loc. 

2. Pyle. ' Thus, I say, the prophecies of the Old 
Testament prove the truth of our religion. But as, in 
those former ages of the Jewish church, there were some 
false, as well as true prophets, so you know Christ and 
his apostles have foretold there would be the same mix- 
ture in the christian church, which predictions of theirs 
are now verified in those raging zealots of the Judaizing 
faction — a set of men that are broaching the most perni- 
cious doctrines, by practising upon which, while they 
boast themselves as the peculiar and purchased people of 
God, they really renounce him that is indeed their Lord 
and Redeemer, and shall, in due time, feel the fatal 
effects of such obstinate malice and ingratitude. These 
people, by their violent zeal and plausible pretences, 
are like to seduce many converts to their party, to the 
great scandal of the christian name. They insinuate 
themselves into your affections, and strive to gain prose- 
lytes for temporal ends, and the gratification of their own 
impure passions. But that divine judgment, long since 
pronounced against the authors of such wickedness, is 
drawing on, and will soon overtake them.' Par. in loc. 

24 



278 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION CXIX. 

'For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down tc> 
hell ; and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto 
judgment 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth per- 
son, a preacher of righteousness^ bringing in the flood upon the world of 
the ungodly 5 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, 
condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto 
those that after should live ungodly 3 And delivered just Lot, vexed with 
the filthy conversation of the wicked : (For that righteous man dwelling 
among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to 
day with their unlawful deeds 5) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the 
godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of 
judgment to be punished/"— 2 Pet. ii. 4 — 9. 

In the following quotations, it seems to he admitted, 
that the day of judgment indicates a time of trial and 
discrimination on earth, thus allowing it to be similar 
to .the other severe judgments, of which the apostle 
speaks ; and although it is supposed that apostate angels 
are here mentioned, and that this misery shall be end- 
less, yet this furnishes no proof that any portion of 
mankind shall fail of obtaining salvation. 

1. Gilpin. ' Nor is this destruction, which is coming 
upon the Jews, an extraordinary instance of God's jus- 
tice. Against enormous wickedness, he hath often exe- 
cuted severe judgments. The angels that sinned were 
driven from the presenee of God. The old world was 
destroyed by a flood, and Sodom and Gomorrah by fire. 
But from the former of these calamities, Noah, who had 
endeavored to convert his unrighteous neighbors, was 
exempted ; and from the latter Lot was delivered, who 
had all along opposed the wickedness of the country in 
which he dwelt. Thus mercy and judgment are equally 
tempered in the hands of God.' Expos, inloc. 

2. Pyle. ' For however they may at present prevail, 
and whatever their malicious endeavors against you may 
be, rest yourselves satisfied, from all the course of the 
divine dispensation, that they are sure of their punish- 
ment, and you of a gracious and timely deliverance. Re- 
member the apostate angels themselves reigned but a little 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 279 

while in their pride, were expelled the regions of heavenly 
light, thrust down into this dark and lower world, and 
are here confined, like prisoners, in chains, till the final 
day of judgment upon them and all wicked men. You 
may conclude the certainty of your rescue from these 
impious persecutors, from the instance of Noah, that 
preached repentance to the antediluvian world, and was 
one of the eight that were saved in the ark. And these 
may assuredly gather their approaching vengeance from 
the destruction of that wicked generation by the flood, 
and from the dreadful examples of Sodom and Gomorrah. 
Remember how special a deliverance that good man, Lot, 
had, from the ruins of those lewd people, after all the 
many vexations he was forced to endure at the sight of 
such profligate and numerous examples. From all which 
instances, good christians ought to assure themselves of 
a proportionable share of the divine care and providence, 
for their deliverance from present afflictions, and of a 
future vengeance upon their cruel persecutors.' Par. 
in loc. 



SECTION CXX. 



1 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, 
speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish 
in their own corruption. 7 — 2 Pet. ii. 12. 

In the following quotations, nothing is said of endless 
torment, as the destruction mentioned in the text ; but 
the writers seem to have understood the words of the 
apostle as signifying merely temporal judgments, or, at 
the most, the destruction of the natural life. 

1. Gilpin. 'But, chiefly, they who give themselves up 
to uncleanness, to pride, and blasphemy, provoke the 
judgments of God.' Expos, in loc. 

2. Pyle. ' But these proud mortals, more like beasts 
of prey than men, being prone to mischief, and ripe for 
destruction, revile and blaspheme every thing without 



230 SELECTIONS FROM 

reason or distinction, and shall, accordingly, feel the natu- 
ral and woful effects of so wilful a degeneracy.' Par. 
in loc. 

3. Grotius. ' They shall perish in the same manner 
as those animals who, by nature, are destined to be taken 
and slain by men. He predicts the issue of the war ex- 
cited by Barchocheba. Similar comparisons occur, Jer. 
x. 18, Psalm cxli. 10, Hab. i. 15. This is said to be 
their justly merited fate, because they reviled those 
things which they understood not ; for they did not 
realize the utility of a government. In their own corrup- 
tion : that is, when the time of their destruction should 
come.' Annot. in Joe. 

4. Calmet. ' They shall perish in their own corrup- 
tion : they shall suffer the punishment of their own blas- 
phemies and lusts. They are like those ravenous beasts 
who rashly fall upon their prey, heedless of the danger 
to which they expose themselves, and are frequently 
taken captive by those whom they attack. So these 
false teachers, abusing Jesus Christ and his church, shall 
become victims of his vengeance, whose spouse they con- 
temn, and whose doctrine they blaspheme,' &c. Com. 
in loc. 

No hint is here given that the punishment is after 
death ; but. so far as the comparison holds, it is evi- 
dently restricted to temporal sufferings, or, at the most, 
to natural death. 



section cxxi. 



1 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest ; 
to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. 7 — 2 Pet. ii. 17. 

This passage is supposed to indicate endless misery, 
because the word forever occurs in it. It is well known, 
however, in the present day, that this word, of itself, 
does not denote endless duration, but that its significa- 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 281 

tion is determined by the subject, in connexion with 
which it is used. The writer quoted below seems 
very justly to understand the text to declare, that men 
remain in continual or perpetual darkness, so long as 
they sustain the character described by the apostle. But 
then, so far as the text shows, when they shall be 
reformed, nothing hinders their enjoying the light and its 
blessings. 

Gilpin. ' Like dry springs, they have no issues of 
life — like tempestuous clouds, they are forever involved 
in darkness.' Expos, in loc. 

See also Gilpin's note on Jude 11 — 13. It will be 
observed that our author does not say, in this place, that 
the persons of whom the apostle speaks shall remain 
endlessly involved in darkness; but they are forever, 
that is, continually, thus involved. While they sustain 
such characters, they are constantly in darkness ; but 
when they shall be reformed, they may pass from dark- 
ness to bVht — from death to life. 



SECTION cxxn. 



f But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are 
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and per- 
dition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, 
that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men 
count slackness 3 but it is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any 
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of 
the Lord will come as a thief in the night 3 in the which the heavens shall 
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of per- 
sons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for 
and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being 
on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat 1 
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a 
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'— 2 Pet. iii. 7 — 13. 

24* 



282 SELECTIONS FROM 

The following quotations furnish sufficient orthodox 
authority for understanding this passage to relate to 
events in the present world, rather than the future. 

1. Hammond. ' Melt with fervent heat : the destruc- 
tion of Judea is here, ver. 10 and 12, described by disso- 
lution, or consumption by fire, and so Isaiah ix. 5, lxvi. 
15, 16, Mai. iv. 1, and Joel ii. 3, 30, where that destruc- 
tion is described ; so 2 Thess. i. 8 — in flaming fire taking 
vengeance; (which that it belongs to that matter, see the 
context of that place, and note on ver. 7 ;) so Heb. x. 27 — 
a burning of fire to consume all that obdurately stand out 
against Christ, and that belonging to this matter also, as 
will appear by comparing ver. "25, and ver. 37 ; see the 
note on ver. 25 of that chapter. 

'What is here thus expressed by St. Peter, is ordina- 
rily conceived to belong to the end of the world, and the 
beginning of the Millennium, or thousand years. And 
so, as St. Peter here saith, ver. 16, many other places in 
St. Paul's epistles, and in the gospel, especially Matt. 
xxiv., are mistaken and wrested. That it doth not belong 
to either of these, but to this fatal day of the Jews, suffi- 
ciently appears by the purport of the whole epistle, which 
is to arm them with constancy and perseverance, till that 
day come, and, particularly in this chapter, to confute 
them who object against the truth of Christ's prediction, 
and resolve it should not come at all, against whom he 
here opposes the certainty, the speediness, and the ter- 
ribleness of its coming. That which hath given occasion 
to those other common mistakes, is especially the hide- 
ousness of those judgments which fell upon that people 
of the Jews, beyond all that before are related to have 
fallen on them, or, indeed, on any other people, which 
made it necessary for the prophets, which were to de- 
scribe it, (and who use tropes and figures, and not plain 
expressions, to set down their predictions,) to express it 
by these high phrases of the passing away and dissolving 
of heaven, and earth, and elements, &c., which, sounding 
very tragically, are mistaken for the great, final dissolu- 
tion of the world.' Annot. in loc. 

2. \Yitsius. ■ It certainly cannot be denied, that the 



B M I N i: M I COWIEJi T A t ORB. 283 

maimer of speaking, used by the holy prophets and apos- 
tles, countenances the opinion of those who call the .Mes- 
siah'- kingdom the beginning of the new world, or age. 
Thus, according to the prophet Haggai, ii. 6, God 
when lie shall send him who is the desirt of all nations^ 
will he sha/a the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry 
land. Likewise, according to Isaiah, lxv. 17, God says, 
Behold, I will create nor heavens, and a new earth ; and the 
former shall not be remembered ^ nor come into mind. Again 
he says. lxvi. 22, The nor heavens and the new earth which I 
will make, shall remain before me* This agrees with Rev. 
xxi. 1, where we read — And I saw anew heaven, and a 
arth ; for the former hen cat and the former earth had 
passed away : end there was no more sea. Nor does St. 
Peter differ from this, when he says, in his second epistle, 
iii. 13, Ni , according to his promise, look for 

new heavens end a new earth. All these passages mean 
that a new scene of affairs was to be introduced into the 
world, by the Messiah, so that it might be considered the 
begin n ing of a ne w w o r 1 d o r a g e . 

' I cannot persuade myself to withhold from the readers 
of this dissertation a learned comment, which that most 
eminent man, John Owen, offers upon this last named 
ge in St. Peter. He observes that the apostle, in 
ver. 5, 6, 7, mentions two worlds : (1,) the old one. which 
had perished by water, and, (2.) that of the then present 
time, which was to be consumed by fire. Then, in the 
13th verse, he announces a third world, to succeed the 
destruction of the last; according to his promise, we look 
ferr new leavens and a nee earth, wherein aweUeth righteous- 
It is i not the vi v e as, a n d tb e m at e r i a 1 earth, 
of which the apostle treats in either passage : because 
that old world of which he speaks had been already 
destroyed by water, and yet the material heavens, together 
with the material earth, still remained. By that world, 
therefore, must be understood, mankind living in the world. 
They having been destroyed by the there was 
founded another world, for the proper observance of the 
worship of God. The foundation of this world God 
placed in the family of Noah : but the whole fabric was 
completed by the organization of the Jewish church. 



284 SELECTIONS FROM 

And this was the world which St. Peter, in that passage, 
predicted, according to the prophetic style, should be 
destroyed by fire. To this purport, we read in Isaiah, 
li. 15, 16, I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, 
whose leaves roared ; the Lord of hosts is his name. And 
1 have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in 
the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and 
lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, thou 
art my people. At the time, therefore, when God, dividing 
the sea, and leading forth his people out of Egypt, entrusted 
to them his word, or his law, with the solemn appoint- 
ment of his worship, thus forming them into a church for 
himself, then it was that he instituted and finished this 
new world, the heavens and the earth spoken of. And, at 
the time when Peter wrote, this world, i. e., the Jewish 
church, now apostatized, was about to be destroyed by 
fire, after the same manner in which that old world had 
perished in the deluge. It was by the conflagration of 
the temple and of the city, that the system of that world 
was dissolved. And the apostle commands the believers 
to look for another world, for new heavens and a new 
earth, according to the promise of God. That promise is 
found in Isaiah, lxv. 17, and likewise, in the same words, 
in chap. lxvi. 22 : Behold, says he, I will create new heavens, 
and a new earth, neither shall the former be remembered, nor 
come into mind. In these passages, the prophet describes 
the state of the church after the advent of Christ, when, 
as it is expressed in the 21st verse of the last chapter, 
God should take of the Gentiles for priests and Levites, 
or, in other words, when he should institute the gospel 
ministry. This state of the church, therefore, was wont 
to be designated, before the conflagration of that second 
world, as the age to come, or the future world ; even as 
St. Paul teaches us, in the epistle to the Hebrews, ii. 5, 
saying, for unto the angels hath he not put into subjection 
the icorld to come, of which we speak; and likewise in 
chap. vi. 5, where he says, and have tasted the good word 
of God, and the powers of the icorld to come. Therefore 
thnX first ox old world perished by a deluge of water; the 
second, or that existing in the apostle's time, he declares 
should perish by fire ; but the future, he intimates, was 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 285 

to endure even to the consummation of time. Thus far 
Owen in Theologuminis, Lib. iii. cap. 1. 

'Whatever be thought of this exposition, which we 
give to be considered by the learned, it is certain that all 
these prophecies describe to us the kingdom of the Mes- 
siah ; but there are various grades and periods in their 
progress to completion. The time when God began to 
shake the heavens and earth, was when he abolished the 
profane idolatry of the Gentiles, producing a universal 
commotion in the world, by the preaching of the gospel, 
and rousing mankind to a new hope — when he overthrew 
Jerusalem and the temple, where had been the throne 
of his glory — when he shook the land of beauty by his 
anathema, and dissolved the weak and beggarly elements 
of the former world — when he introduced that state, in 
which neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncir- 
cumcision, but a new creature, and all nations, without 
distinction, enjoy the privileges of the spiritual kingdom ; 
in one word, when old things are passed away, aud all 
things become new, 2 Cor. v. 17.' Hermanni Witsii 
Dissertat. de Seculo hoc et futuro, Sect, 25, 26, 27 ; inter 
J. G. Meuschenii Novum Test amentum ex Tahnude Illus 
tratum, pp. 1179, 1180. 

3. Cajppe. To the foregoing very full testimonies, 
I only add, that Cappe refers this whole chapter to the 
6 dissolution of the Jewish state. ' See his remarks^ 
quoted among the notes on Rom. ii. 3 — 5. 



SECTION CXXIII. 



'Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer; and ye know that no 
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.'— 1 John iii. 15. 

This is sometimes quoted, no murderer hath eternal 
life, and sometimes, no self-murderer hath eternal life ; 
neither of which expresses the meaning of the apostle. 



286 SELECTIONS FROM 

That this passage has no reference to the future exist- 
ence, is allowed in the following quotations : — 

1. Hammond. ' The hating of others is, by interpre- 
tation, the killing of them, because it is so in intention 
of heart, did not some outward restraint curb it ; and he 
that is such is acknowledged by all men to be quite con- 
trary to the evangelical temper, the regenerate state, 
from the having spiritual life abiding in him, which the 
Gnostics, that are so malicious, do yet so much talk of.' 
Par. in loc. 

2. Macknight. c No person, who cherisheth such a 
hatred of his brother, as either leadeth him actually to 
put his brother to death unjustly, or disposeth him to put 
him to death when accidentally enraged, hath the capa- 
city of eternal life abiding in him. This the apostle 
affirmed! with the greatest truth, because the person who 
is a man slayer, in either of the senses just now described, 
being destitute not only of natural good dispositions, but 
of religion, he is, without doubt, incapable of eternal life. 
Nevertheless, if a man slayer sincerely repenteth, he may 
be pardoned.' Note in loc, 

3. Clarke. ' Eternal life springs from an indwelling 
God; and God cannot dwell in the heart where hatred 
and malice dwell. This text has been quoted to prove 
that no murderer can be saved. This is not said in the 
text ; and there have been many instances of persons who 
have been guilty of murder, having had deep and genuine 
repentance, and who, doubtless, found mercy from His 
hands who prayed for his murderers, Father forgive them, 
for they knoiv not what they do. It is, however, an awful 
text for the consideration of those who shed human blood 
on frivolous pretences, pr in those wars which have their 
origin in the worst passions of the human heart.' Com. 
in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 287 



SECTION CXXIV. 

1 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall 
ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There 
is a sin unto death : I do not say that he shall pray for it. ? — 1 John v. 16, 

The nature and consequences of the sin unto death 
have furnished matter for much controversy. It will be 
sufficient for any purpose, to show, by the quotations 
which follow, that several orthodox critics allow the text 
to have no reference to punishment in the future state 
of existence. 

1. Whitby. ' If any man see his sick brother sin a 
sin which is not unto death — i. e., for which God hath not 
peremptorily threatened and required that he should die 
for it, as he did to them that were guilty of murder, Gen. 
ix. 5, 6, Num. xxxv. 30, 31, and for idolatry, Deut. xvii* 
2 — 5 — he shall ask of God restoration of his life and 
health ; and he shall give him life, for them that sin not 
thus unto death. There is a sin unto death, of which God 
hath denounced, that he that doth it, shall die for it ; I 
do not say, that he shall pray for it — i. e., for deliverance 
of the person guilty of it, from death.' Par. in toe. 

2. Macknight. « If any one endowed with spiritual 
gifts is sensible that his brother hath committed a sin, 
which is not to be punished with bodily death, because he 
hath repented, or is in a disposition to repent, let him 
pray to God, and he will grant, at his request, recovery 
to those that have not sinned to death. There is a sin 
which will be punished with death, because the sinner is 
impenitent. I do not say concerning it, that the spiritual 
man should ask God to recover such a person by miracle.' 
Com. in loc. 

3. Clarke. ' The sin unto death means a case of trans- 
gression, particularly of grievous backsliding from the 
life and power of godliness, which God determines to 
punish with temporal death, while, at the same time, he 
extends mercy to the penitent soul. The disobedient pro- 
phet, 1 Kings xiii. 1 — 32, is, on this interpretation, a case 



288 SELECTIONS FROM 

in point ; many others occur in the history of the church, 
and of every religious community. The sin not unto 
death is any sin which God does not choose thus to 
punish.' Com, in loc. 

4. Beausobre and Lenfant. c A sin unto death : some 
understand this to to be the sin against the Holy Ghost, 
Matt. xii. 31, which, however, is not very probable ; 
others, that it is impenitence, see Heb. vi. 4 — 6, x. 26. 
But it appears, rather, that this passage treats of some of 
those sins which incur temporal death, as in Acts v. 5, 
1 Cor. xi. 30 — 32. St. John probably here alludes to 
the distinction which the law made among sins. There 
were those which it pardoned, and for which a sacrifice 
was offered, the priest praying to God, and obtaining his 
grace for the sinner ; but there were others, as wilful 
murder, adultery, idolatry, for which there was no sac- 
rifice. It did not follow that the sinner was condemned 
to eternal death ; if he repented, he might be saved, 
though he should suffer the penalty of the law. So, like- 
wise, under the gospel, there were sins which God pun- 
ished by diseases, as is intimated in those words of Jesus 
Christ, on healing the sick — your sins he forgiven you — 
and in St. James v. 15, where the recovery of the sick by 
prayer is joined with the remission of sins, which were 
regarded as the cause of the disease. When, therefore, 
any christian had committed one of those sins which the 
law condemned without mercy, and had afterwards fallen 
into a dangerous sickness, that sickness was supposed to 
be the punishment of his sin. I do not say, observes St. 
John, that you should ask of God recovery and life for 
such a sinner ; it is a sin unto death. God will do with 
it as he sees fit, and pardon it if he chooses.' Note in loc. 

5. Horne. 'The Talmudical writers have distinguished 
the capital punishments of the Jews into lesser deaths, 
and such as were more grievious ; but there is no war- 
rant in the scriptures for these distinctions ; neither are 
these writers agreed among themselves, what particular 
punishments are to be referred to these two heads. A 
capital crime, generally, was termed a sin of death, Deut. 
xvii. 6, or a sin icorthy of death, Deut. xxi. 22, which 
mode of expression is adopted, or rather imitated, by the 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 289 

apostle John, who distinguishes between a sin unto death, 
and a sin not unto death, 1 John v. 16. Criminals, or those 
who were deemed worthy of capital punishment, were 
called sons, or men of death, 1 Sam. xx. 32, xxvi. 16, 
2 Sam. xix. 28, marg. reading, just as he, who had incur- 
red the punishment of scourging, was designated a son of 
stripes, Deut. xxv. 16, 1 Kings xiv. 6. A similar phrase- 
ology was adopted by Jesus Christ, when he said to the 
Jews, Ye shall diein your sins, John viii. 21, 24. Eleven 
different sorts of capital punishments are mentioned in 
the sacred writings.' Introd. vol. iii. p. 143. 

6. Gilpin. ' If any of your society is visited with 
sickness for his sins, let public prayers be made ; and if 
his sins be not of such a nature as God may think fit to 
punish with death, (in which case the offender must be 
left to the divine mercy,) the devout prayers of the church 
will be heard.' Expos, in loc. 

7. Benson. 'If a christian, by an impulse of the 
spirit, perceives that any christian brother has sinned 
such a sin as to draw down upon himself a disease, 
which is not to end in death, but to be miraculously cured 
by him, then let him pray to God, and God, in answer 
to his prayer, will grant life and perfect health unto such 
christians as have sinned a sin which is not to end in 
death. There is a sin which draws down a disease upon 
christians, that is to end in death. I do not say, or mean, 
that any christian shall pray for that, because, in such a 
case, God would not hear his prayer, nor miraculously 
cure his christian brother, at his request.' Par. in loc. 

8. Rosenmuller. This standard critic agrees with 
those already quoted, in supposing the sin unto death to 
be a crime punishable with temporal or bodily death. 
He differs from them only in believing this death was to 
be inflicted, not by God, but by the civil magistrates,- 
and that the entreaties for forgiveness were to be ad- 
dressed to them, rather than to Him ; inasmuch as to 
them c belongs the right of inflicting the punishment of 
death for the more heinous offences.' Scholia in loc. 

25 



290 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION CXXV. 



' For there are certain men crept unawares, who were before of old 
ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our 
God* into laciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord 
Jesus Christ/— Jude 4. 

Being ordained to condemnation has been supposed 
to mean, doomed to final damnation ; but that this is 
not the import of the words, is admitted in the following 
quotations : — 

1. Hammond. ' Before ordained of old to this con- 
demnation : the way to interpret this, as almost any other 
difficulty in this epistle, will be, by comparing it with the 
second of Peter, which is almost perfectly parallel to this. 
There these men are spoken of, chap. ii. 3, and the passage 
that there seems parallel to this is — bringing on themselves 
swift destruction, and for whom judgment for some while 
lingereth not, and their destruction doth not nod, ver. 3, 
which signifies, in both places, the certain, and quick 
destruction which is likely to come upon those men, who, 
by complying with the Jews, and professing themselves 
to be such, to avoid their persecutions, are, by the Roman 
destroyers, taken for Jews, and so speedily (soon after 
this time) devoured. Only in this place is mentioned the 
being formerly set forth, or written of, answerable to 
which is 2 Pet. ii. 1, among you shall be false teachers; 
which, being an affirmation that there shall be, must be 
grounded on some prophecy, or prediction, that there 
should. And that is clearly to be found in Christ's pre- 
diction of the destruction of the Jews, Matt. xxiv. 10, 
before which there should come false prophets, all one with 
the false teachers in St. Peter, (see 1 John ii. 6,) by which 
the Gnostics are certainly to be understood. And, there- 
fore, at the writing of St. Jude's epistle, these being 
actually come in, he speaks not of them by way of 
prophecy, that they shall come f but applies to them the 
former prophecy, that they are the men that were before 
written, or prophesied of by Christ, in the gospel of St. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 291 

Matthew, and so capable of that title. Instead of this, 
when St. John, 1 Ep. li. 18, speaks of this very matter, 
he saith — As ye have heard that antichrist comcth, so now 
there arc many antichrists, by which, saith he, we knoic 
tJiat it is the last hour ; just as St. Matthew had made it 
a prognostic of the coming of that fatal period of the 
Jews. By this it appears, first, that formerly (or of old,) 
here refers to Christ's time ; foreicritten, (or ordained,) 
to Matt, xxiv., or the passage there set down; and 
judgment, or condemnation , to that great destruction that 
should fall, about that time, upon all the obdurate, un- 
believing Jews, and false teachers — Gnostics, or other 
abominable christians, whose sin is set down in the 
following words — impious, fyc, and their condemnation 
in these.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Gilpin. ' For many deceivers are now abroad in 
the world, (as it was prophesied there should be,) &c. 
Thus I should translate the words, of old ordained to this 
condemnation? Expos, in loc. 



SECTION CXXVI. 



1 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own 
habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the 
judgment of the great day.' — Jude 6. 

All the orthodox commentators, so far as I have 
examined, agree in interpreting this text in reference to 
the endless misery of the apostate angels. But then it 
should be recollected, that, whether this interpretation be 
correct or not, it does not materially affect the question, 
whether all men shall be saved. The endless misery of 
angels is one thing — the endless misery of men is 
another, and a different thing. The endless misery of 
the one class, if fully established by the testimony of the 
scriptures, would not, of itself, conclusively prove the 
endless misery of the other class. It is by no means 



292 SELECTIONS FROM 

admitted, that the endless misery of angels is here in- 
dicated. But if it were, the endless misery of mankind 
would not follow as a necessary, or even a natural, conse- 
quence. 



section cxxvn 



'Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like 
manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and sroing after strange 
flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal 
fire.' — Jude 7. 

It is allowed, by the writers quoted below, that this 
verse does not. as many suppose, prove that the in- 
habitants of Sodom and Gomorrah are suffering punish- 
ment in the spiritual world. 

1. Whitby. I suppose Whitby believed many of 
these persons will be finally lost ; but he did not believe 
the text to afford any proof to that effect. He says — 

1 That this is spoken not of the cities themselves, but of 
the inhabitants which dwelt in them — i. e., of them who 
had given themselves over to fornication, and gone after 
strange flesh — is evident : but yet I conceive they are said 
to suffer the vengeance of eternal f re, not because their souls 
are at present punished in hell-tire, but because they, and 
their cities, perished from that lire from heaven which 
brought a perpetual, and irreparable destruction on them 
and their cities. 

For (1.) we have proved — note on 2 Pet. ii. 6, and iii. 
7 — that even the devils themselves are not tormented, at 
present, in that infernal fire, but only will be cast into it 
at the day of judgment; and, therefore, neither do the 
wicked Sodomites yet suffer in those flames. (*2,) I 
would admonish you, saith the apostle, though you once 
knew this, that Sodom and Gomorrah thus suffered the 
vengeance of eternal fire. Now, from the history of 
Genesis, and the writings of the prophets, they might 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 293 

know that these cities, and the inhabitants of them, were 
overthrown, eis aiona, with a perpetual desolation, Zeph. 
ii. 9, but they could not know from thence that their souls 
iccrc afterwards cast into hell-fire. (3,) To dcigma, an 
example, is to be taken from something visible to, or 
knowable by, all who were to be terrified by it, especially 
when it is an example manifested and proposed. Now 
such was not the punishment of their souls in hell-fire ; 
but nothing was more known and celebrated among 
authors, sacred and profane, Jewish, Christian, and 
heathen writers, than the fire that fell clown upon Penta- 
polis, or the five cities of Sodom, they being mentioned 
still in scripture, as the cities which God overthrew with 
a perpetual desolation. 

6 Nor is there any thing more common and familiar in 
scripture, than to represent a thorough and irreparable 
vastation, whose effects and signs should be still remain- 
ing, by the word aionios, which we here render eterncd. 
I will set thee, eis eremon aionion, in places desolate of 
old, Ezek. xxvi. 20. I will destroy thee, and thou shalt 
be no more, eis ton aiona, forever, ver. 21. I will make 
thee, eremian aionion, a perpetual desolation, and thy 
cities shall be built no more, chap. xxxv. 9. See also 
Ezek. xxxvi. 2, Isa. lviii. 12. They have caused them 
to stumble in their ways, to make their land deso- 
late, and surigma aionion, a perpetual hissing, Jer. xviii. 
15, 16. I will bring you, oneidismon aionion, an ever- 
lasting reproach, and a perpetual shame, which shall not 
be forgotten, Jer. xxiii. 40, and xxv. 9. I will make the 
land of the Chaldeans a perpetual desolation, thesomai 
autous eis aphanismon aionion, they shall sleep, upnon 
aionion, a perpetual sleep, Jer. Ii. 39. And this espe- 
cially is threatened, where the destruction of a nation or 
people is likened to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomor- 
rah ; thus, Babylon shall be as when God overthrew 
Sodom and Gomorrah, ou katoikethesetai eis ton aiona 
chronon, it shall never be inhabited, Isa. xiii. 19, 20. 
And again, Jer. 1. 40. The like is said of Edom, Jer. 
xlix. 17, 18; and of Moab. Surely Moab shall be 
as Sodom, and the children of Aramon as Gomorrah, 
25* 



294 



SELECTIONS FROM 



ephanismene eis ton aiona, a perpetual desolation, Zeph. 
ii. 9.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Gilpin. ' Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire : 
that is, those cities were forever destroyed. The apostle 
cannot well mean future punishments , because he men- 
tions it as a deigma — something that was to be a visible 
example to all. That word (deriving from deiknumai, to 
show, or exhibit,) properly signifies to give a sample of 
something to be sold.' Expos, in loc. 

3. Benson. ' By their suffering the punishment of eter- 
nal fire, St. Jude did not mean that those wicked persons 
were then, and would be always, burning in hell-fire. 
For he intimates that what they suffered was set forth to 
public view, and appeared to all, as an example (or 
specimen) of God's displeasure against vice. That fire 
which consumed Sodom, &c, might be called eternal, as 
it burned till it had utterly consumed them, beyond the 
possibility of their ever being inhabited, or rebuilt. St. 
Peter has well expressed it, in saying, God reduced them 
to ashes. But the word will have a yet more emphatical 
meaning, if (as several authors affirm,) that fire con- 
tinued to burn a long while ; nay, that even to the time 
of the writing of this epistle, and afterwards, smoke and 
small flame did sometimes break out.' Note in loc. 

4. Hammond. ' Everlasting destruction signifies an 
utter destruction, as of Sodom it is said, Jude 7, that it 
endured the vengeance of eternal fire and brimstone, which 
in all reason belonging to the fire and brimstone that 
destroyed Sodom, must signify, not the eternal burning 
of that fire, but the utter consumption of the city by that 
fire, or the fire's never ceasing to burn till it had utterly 
consumed the city.' Annot. in 2 Thess. i. 9. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 295 



SECTION CXXVIII. 



' Woe unto them ! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran after 
the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 
These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feed- 
ing themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about 
of winds \ trees whose fruit withereth ; without fruit, twice dead^ plucked 
up by the roots ; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame 5 
wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.' — 

JUDE 11—12. 

There is nothing hvthis text which naturally indi- 
cates punishment in the future life. All the figures here 
used are as applicable to^ie present state of existence, 
as to the next. The last may, perhaps, be thought an 
exception, because the word forever occurs in it. But 
this word imparts no special force to a subject ; it rather 
receives its own force from the subject in connexion with 
which it is used. This v is allowed by critics, generally, 
in the present day. The sense of the passage seems 
to be well expressed in the paraphrase which is sub- 
joined : — 

1. Gilpin. ' They follow the examples of the very 
worst persons they find recorded in the bible history — 
the malice of Cain — the covetousness and seducing arts 
of Balaam, and the implacable opposition of Corah. A 
feast of charity they turn into wantonness. Like un- 
wholesome air, they blast wherever they come — like 
withered trees, they only incumber the- ground — like 
waves they spend their rage only in foam — like uncertain 
meteors, their light soon sets in darkness. 

1 The text says, twice dead : the apostle may mean, 
that they were once wicked Jews, and, having aposta- 
tized, are now wicked Christians. Or, perhaps, he only 
expresses more strongly their deadness, as Virgil, ex- 
pressing happiness, says — terque, quaterque beatV Expos, 
in he. 

2. Horne. « Death : the state of a soul insensible of 
sin and corruption, and destitute of the spirit of life, 
Jude 12, twice dead.'' Introd. 4*c, vol. iv. p. 494. 



296 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION CXXIX. 



i And Enoch also ; the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, 
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, To execute 
judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of 
all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all 
their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. ; — 
Jude 14. 15. 

This passage evidently is a prediction of heavy 
judgments ; but that these judgments do not necessa- 
rily belong to the future life, is admitted in the quota- 
tions which follow : — 

1. GrLPiN. ' Against such persons, Enoch prophesied, 
when, speaking of the old world, he threatens them with 
God's heavy displeasure for their enormous crimes.' 
Expos, in loc. 

2. Cappe. The Lord cometh ivith ten thousand of his 
saints to execute judgment, which is the language of very 
ancient times, relating, probably, to some signal judgment 
of God upon unbelievers and scoffers, and applied by 
this writer to those of his own clay.' Crit. Rem. i. 152. 

3. Grotius. 'Whatever Enoch said, or was able to 
say, on the approach of the deluge, might very fitly be 
referred, by Jude, to that almost universal slaughter 
which menaced the contumacious Jews.' Annot. in loc. 

4. Clarke. ( To execute judgment: this was origi- 
nally spoken to the antediluvians, and the coming of the 
Lord, to destroy that world, was the thing spoken of in 
this prophecy or declaration. But, as God had threatened 
this, it required no direct inspiration to foretel it.' Com. 
in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 297 



SECTION CXXX. 



' Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil 
shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried 5 and ye shall 
have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee 
a crown of life.' — Rev. ii. 10. 

Whitby, in the preface to his discourse on the mille- 
nium, remarks, that ' Scaliger was pleased to say, Cahin 
was wise, because he did not wriie upon the Revelations. 
I confess,' continues Whitby, ' I do it not for want of 
wisdom — that is, because I neither have sufficient read- 
ing, nor judgment, to discern the true intendment of the 
prophecies contained in that book.' 

It had been well, perhaps, if others had followed the 
example of Calvin and Whitby. As several have writ- 
ten, however, I may be allowed to quote them, without 
assuming to be deeply skilled in the meaning of this 
most mysterious production. I only remark, that any 
doctrine, resting for support solely on the supposed 
meaning of this book, can scarcely be entitled to im- 
plicit belief. 

1. Hammond. ' Take courage against all possible 
dangers, remembering me, as I have represented myself 
to you, ver. 8. And now I tell you before-hand, that 
your constancy to the faith must, in reason, be expected 
to raise you up enemies, both at this present, the Jewish 
zealots for the synagogue, ver. 9, (incensed against you 
by the Gnostics,) and afterwards the Roman officers, as- 
sertersofthe diabolical idol worship against Christianity, 
and these latter shall apprehend and imprison some of 
you, being permitted by God to do so, on purpose for the 
further trial of your constancy. And this persecution 
which shall come upon you, when the Jews are destroyed, 
(in the time of Marcus Aurelius and Verus, under which, 
Polycarp, the bishop of this church, shall suffer death,) 
shall then last for a little while ; and all this shall prove 
a foundation of greater glory to you, and help them to 



298 , SELECTIONS FROM 

the reward and crown of martyrdom which suffer in it, 
and that is all the hurt which your constancy shall bring 
you.' Par. in loc. 

2. Gill. ' Crown of life : which may refer, not only 
to eternal life, but to the deliverance of the christians 
from persecutions by Constantine ; who coming to the 
imperial crown, that became not only a crown of glory 
to him, but of life to the church, and was as life from the 
dead to the saints ; to dead men is promised a crown of 
life, in allusion to the Gentiles, who crowned their dead.' 
Expos, in loc. 



SECTION CXXXI. 



'He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
churches ; he that overcometh ; shall not be hurt of the second death.'— 
Rev. ii. 11. 

The second death has been supposed to signify end- 
less torment. But there is orthodox authority for inter- 
preting the phrase to mean merely an utter destruction,- 
such as fell on Sodom, when the Lord rained upon the 
city fire and brimstone ; but having no special reference 
to the situation of men in the future existence. 

1. Hammond. ' They that holdout to the end, that 
persevere in despite of all these temptations, shall con- 
tinue a prosperous, flourishing church — shall not have 
their candlestick removed from them, as all they shall, 
that, by the sharpness of persecutions, are scandalized, 
and fall off from Christ. See note on chap. xx. 6.' Par. 
in loc. 

In the note referred to, (quoted in its proper place,) 
the reader will find some remarks on the phrases, first 
resurrection, and second death, which are worthy a 
careful perusal. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 299 



SECTION CXXXII. 



' And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a 
great earthquake ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the 
moon became as blood : And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even 
as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty 
wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; 
and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the 
kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief 
captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man, and every free-man, 
hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. And said 
to the mountains and rocks, Fall onus, and hide us from the face of him 
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great 
day of his wrath is come 3 and who shall be able to stand ?— Rev. vi. 
12—17. 

Many have supposed this passage to be descriptive of 
the final consummation of all things, and to indicate that 
some shall be tormented in the future life. A different 
view is given below. The reader may find it profitable 
to review the notes on Matt. chap, xxiv., 2 Pet. hi. 
7 — 13, &c, where similar language occurs. 

1. Hammond. ' And at the opening of the sixth seal, 
in that roll, there was a representation of eclipses of sun 
and moon, &c, figuratively to express great destructions, 
Ezek. xxxii. 7, Isa. xiii. 20, Joel ii. 10, 31, and chap. iii. 
15. And the same was again signified by an appearance 
of falling stars, dropping down as the withered figs, those 
that are of a second spring, and come not to be ripe that 
year, but hanging on the tree in the winter, are frost- 
bitten, and with a great wind are shaken down and fall 
from the tree, Isa. xxxiv. 4. And by the appearance of 
great, black, gloomy clouds, covering the whole face of 
the sky, not a star to be seen any more than the writing 
is discernable in a roll folded up, and by the earthquakes, 
ver. 12, whereby many hills and islands were moved out 
of their places, Isa. xxxiv. 4. And the governors and 
great ones, of several degrees of power among the Jews, 
the generals of the several factions among them, and 
every meaner person of all sorts, appeared in the vision 
to be in a horrible consternation. And the guilt of the 



300 SELECTIONS FROM 

blood of Christ and christians, which they had shed, and 
of which they wished that it might fall upon them and 
their children, now fell upon them, made them fly into 
vaults, or caverns under ground, and into walls, (accord- 
ing as it really fell out, and as it was foretold by the pro- 
phets, Isa. ii. 19, Hos. x. 8, and by Christ, Luke xxiii. 
30,) as seeing this inevitable vengeance now falling on 
them.' Par. in loc. 

Five notes are added by Hammond, for the more full 
illustration of this vision. I quote only the last: — 

*Ver. 16, Wrath of the Lamb: the anger of the 
Lamb, and the great day of his anger, here, ver. 16, 17, 
and thine anger, chap. xi. 18, are set to express this ven- 
geance on the Jews, whereof the crucifixion of Christ 
was so great and particular a provoker. Hence is it, 
that in the gospel it is called the kingdom of God, and 
the coming of Christ, and in Josephus and Eusebius, 
divine visitation, destruction from divine vengeance, and 
visitation from God, Euscb. Lib. iii. ; and all this from St. 
Luke xxi. m 2'2, who calls them days of vengeance from 
God, poured out upon them remarkably for what they 
had done unto Christ. And one phrase yet more emi- 
nent, there is to the same purpose, Rev. xvi. 14, the war 
of the great day of God that ruleth cdl, that is, the bloody 
destruction which this just judgment of God brought upon 
them, for their crucifying of Christ, and persecuting and 
killing of christians.' Annot. in loc. 

2. Assembly's Annotations. In these annota- 
tions, this passage is referred to certain troubles in the 
Roman empire. The first note commences thus : — 

' The troubles that were to befal the Roman empire, 
and strange alterations therein, are set out figuratively, 
by the shaking of the earth, and confusion of the heavenly 
bodies, as often in the prophets such alterations are de- 
scribed,' &c. Annot. in loc. 

3. Clarke. ( All these things may literally apply to 
the final destruction of Jerusalem, and to the revolution 
which took place in the Roman empire, under Constan- 
tine the Great. Some apply them to the day of judgment ; 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 301 

but they do not seem to have that awful event in view. 
Com. in loc. 

4. Lightfoot. c The destruction of Jerusalem and 
the whole Jewish state is described as if the whole frame 
of this world were to be dissolved. Nor is it strange, 
when God destroyed his habitation and city — places once 
so dear to him, with so direful and sad an overthrow ; his 
own people, whom he accounted of as r much, or more 
than the whole world beside, by so dreadful and amazing 
plagues.' He notices Matt. xxiv. 29, 30, and 2 Pet. iii. 
10, and then continues thus : — ' Rev. vi. 12, 13, The sun 
became black, &c. Where, if we take notice of the fore- 
going plagues, by which, according to the most frequent 
threateniugs, he destroyed that people — viz., the sword, 
ver. 4, the famine, ver. 5, 6, and the plague, ver. 8 — withal 
comparing those words, "They say to the mountains, 
fall on us, and cover us," with Luke xxiii. 30; it will 
sufficiently appear, that by those phrases is understood 
the dreadful judgment and overthrow of that nation and 
city. With these also agrees that of Jer. iv. [22 — 28, 
and clearly enough explains this phrase.' Heb. and 
Talm. Exerc. in John xxi. 22. 



SECTION CXXXIII. 



'-' And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any 
man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his fore- 
head, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of 
God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; 
and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the 
holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their 
torment ascendeth up forever and ever : and they have no rest day nor 
night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the 
mark of his name.'— Rev. xiv. 9 — 11. 

This is considered, by some, to afford very conclusive 

proof, that sinners shall be tormented eternally in the 

future life. But the orthodox writers, quoted below, 

interpret it to mean only certain severe temporal judg- 

26 



302 SELECTIONS FROM 

ments, inflicted on sinners soon after the Apocalypse was* 
written. 

1. Hammond. ( And methought a third angel followed? 
on purpose to confirm all weak and seducible persecuted 
christians, and to fortify them in their patience and con- 
stancy, under the present, or yet remaining persecutions ; 
(ver. 13;) and this he did by denouncing the judgments 
that the inconstant should fall under, the direful ruin 
which attended all apostatizing, complying christians, 
that, (after the manner of the Gnostic compilers,) for fear 
of persecutions, had, or should forsake the christian 
purity, and join in the worships or practices of heathen 
Rome, in the bitter punishments, or effects of God's 
wrath, such as fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Christ 
being the Judge, and the angels the executioners of it ; 
even utter destruction to all that shall have been guilty of 
this in any degree, and do not timely repent of it.' Par, 
in loc. 

See, also, Hammond's note on chap. xx. 6. 

2. Grotius. c Shall be tormented with fire and brim- 
stone : these words may, indeed, very aptly signify tor- 
ments after the resurrection. But as similar language 
occurs, chap. xix. 10, where no reference is had to that 
period, as is evident from what follows, it appears that 
an interpretation should here also be adopted, applicable 
to that people ; — that conscience should be understood 
as burning within them, in the presence of Christ and 
his angels : this would be somewhat like dwelling in ge- 
henna. Thus have the poets represented the bosoms of 
men to be burned before the faces of the furies. 

'And the smoke of their torment ascendeth, &c. : the 
memory of the afflictions they have suffered shall con- 
tinually remain. Words often burst forth from the im- 
pious, testifying the anguish of their minds ; as from 
Tiberius, in his epistle, found in Tacitus, and Suetonius.* 
AnnoU in loc. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 303 



SECTION CXXXIV. 



- The beast that thousawest, was, and is not ; and shall ascend out of 
the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the 
earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book "of life 
from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, 
and is not. and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The 
seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there 
are seven kings : rive are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come 3 
and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that 
was, and is not. even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into 
perdition.' — Rev. xvii. 8 — 11. 

I notice this text, not so much because it is supposed 
to imply endless misery, as because it gives me an op- 
portunity to exhibit still further the view which some 
orthodox writers have taken of the word perdition. As 
this word has been considered indicative of torment after 
death, it will not be improper to quote some authorities 
respecting it. 

I. Hammond. ' And the scarlet beast, ver. 3, on whom 
this power is seated, and which blasphemeth, and defieth 
the God of heaven, that is, the person of the emperor, 
in whom this power is vested, at the time to which this 
part of the vision refers, is one which was in power, but 
at this point of time, that is, after Vespasian's return out 
of Judea, was out of it, but shall come to it again, as it 
were out of hell, to persecute the christians. And when 
he, that is, Domitian, shall have delivered up the empire 
again to Vespasian, upon his return out of Judea, and 
for some years become a private man again ; this shall 
be matter of great admiration and astonishment to all 
that are not christians, wheresoever they are, seeing by 
this means, that the persecutor of christians is gone out 
of power, (and when he comes in again, shall not con- 
tinue long, but himself be cruelly butchered, ver. 8 and 
11,) and Vespasian, a favorer of the christians, but the 
destroyer of the Jews, is come in again, even while Do- 
mitian was alive, which made it the more strange. This 
is the meaning of the riddle ; the seven heads are the 



304 SELECTIONS FROM 

seven hills, which are so famously known in Rome. And 
besides, they denote the seven kings or emperors thereof, 
(that have had any thing to do with the christians,) which 
are here to be numbered from the time of the beginning 
of these visions, till this, of the writing of them ; of them 
five are dead, all of violent deaths, poisoned, or killed 
by themselves or others, viz., Claudius, Nero, Galba, 
Otho, Vitellius ; one then reigned, viz., Vespasian, and a 
seventh was not yet come to the kingdom, viz., Titus, who, 
when he should come to it, should reign but two years 
and two months. And Domitiau, described ver. 8, as he 
that was, and is not, that is, one that in Vespasian's time, 
while he was busy in other parts, exercised all power at 
Rome, and was called emperor, is the eighth, that is, 
comes to the empire after those seven, being the son of 
one of them, to wit, of Vespasian, (in whose time, also, 
he held the government of Rome,) and this a wretched, 
accursed person, a cruel, bloody persecutor of the chris- 
tians, and shall be punished accordingly.' Par. in loc. 

In his note on ver. 8, Dr. Hammond further speaks 
of this Domitian : — c This person being a great persecu- 
tor of Christians, God's judgments were remarkably to 
fall on him, which is the meaning of he goeth into per* 
dition, ver. 11 ; for he was butchered by his own ser- 
vants. 5 

2. Dutch Annotations. The authors of the Dutch 
Annotations take a somewhat different view of this sub- 
ject. Like Hammond, they understand the beast to 
represent the persecuting power, by means of which the 
church suffered affliction. But they differ from him in 
supposing this power vested in papal Rome, rather than 
in heathen Rome — in the pope, rather than in the em- 
peror. The term, perdition, (which is principally im- 
portant in this passage,) they understand to be temporal 
destruction. In fact, they do not, like Hammond, inter- 
pret it to mean loss of life, but only loss of power. I 
quote as much of the note as relates to this subject : — 

i Go into perdition — namely, after it shall have con- 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 305 

tinued some considerable time, it will again decrease by 
degrees, and lose its authority among christians, as of 
latter times is begun, and in the next chapter shall be 
fulfilled.' Annot. in loc. 

3. Clarke. In a note, much too long for quotation 
in this place, Dr. Clarke interprets the whole passage 
to relate to the concerns of this present world. 

4. Grotius. ' Go into perdition : perdition here, as in 
John xvii. 12, and 2 Thess. ii. 3, signifies, not simply 
death, but a most grievous death ; such occurred in the 
case of Domitian, who was slain by the hands of his own 
servants, as may be seen in Suetonius and Philostratus.' 
Annot. in loc, 



SECTION CXXXV. 



* And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought 
'miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the 
mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both 
were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rem- 
nant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which 
sword proceeded out of his mouth : and all the fowls were filled with their 
flesh.— Rev. xix. 20, 21. 

The lake of fire and brimstone many imagine must 
belong to the future existence. But the writers quoted 
below explain it otherwise. 

1. Hammond. ' And the Roman idolatry, and the 
magic, and auguries, and the divinations of the heathen 
priests, that had deceived the carnal christians, so far as 
to consent and comply with the heathenish idolotry, were 
to be like Sodom and Gomorrah, utterly extirpated. And 
the rest — all the secret idolaters, were swept away in the 
same destruction also, (for thinking that these armies 
against Rome, would be favorable to any, more than to 
the orthodox, pure christians, they then thought it a fit 
time to discover themselves, but strangely miscarried in it, 
the christians that fled to the Basilica, or temple, being 
26* 



306 SELECTIONS FROM 

the only persons that found deliverance,) and so all their 
idol-worship was destroyed, which is the sum of this 
chapter.' Par. in loc. 

2. Clarke. On the talcing of the beast, Dr.Clarke 
refers to his note on chap. xvii. 8, &c, in which, as 1 
have already observed, he interprets the figurative lan- 
guage which occurs here, as having reference to the 
present state of existence. He then says — 

4 That worshipped his image : the beast has been rep- 
resented as the Latin empire ; the image of the beast, 
the popes of Rome; and the false prophet, the papal 
clergy. 

4 Were cast alive into a lake of fire: were discomfited 
when alive, in the zenith of their power, and destroyed 
with an utter destruction.' Com. in loc. 

3. Rosenmuller. These were cast alive into a lake of 
fire burning with sulphur : Isaiah has a comparison not 

unlike this, chap. lxvi. 24, in which is contained a de- 
scription of the most severe punishments. The same is 
repeated, Rev. xx. 10, where the devil is added. The 
divine prophet thus signifies, that idolatry and idol wor- 
ship should be so extinguished in the Roman empire, 
that nothing more of it should appear than of a thing 
consumed by fire — than of Sodom, for example, and the 
neighboring cities.' Scholia in loc. 

4. Grotius. ''These both were cast alive into a lake of 
fire burning with brimstone: the same is repeated, chap. 
xx. 10, where the devil is added,' &c. Annot. in loc. 

See the note of Rosenmuller, which is, in fact, merely 
a transcript of Grotius. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 307 



SECTION CXXXV1. 

' But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were 
finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that 
hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second death hath no 
power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ ; and shall reign with 
him a thousand years. 7 — Rev. xx. 5 ; 6. 

Here we find again the phrase, second death, con- 
nected with the first resurrection ; and in order to present 
a more extended view of the manner in which some 
orthodox writers understand it, I offer short quotations 
from Lightfoot and Rosenmuller, and a long one from 
Hammond. It w 7 ill be observed, that neither of these 
writers understand the text to teach the doctrine of 
endless misery. 

1. Lightfoot. ' Now what, and at what time, is this 
resurrection 1 When the great angel of the covenant, 
Christ, had bound the old dragon with the chains of the 
gospel, and shut him up, that he should no more seduce 
the nations by lying wonders, oracles, and divinations, 
and his false gods, as formerly he had done ; that is, 
when the gospel, being published among the heathen 
nations, had laid open all the devices and delusions of 
Satan, and had restored them, from the death of sin and 
ignorance, to a true state of life indeed. This was the 

first resurrection.' Heb. and Talm. Exerc. in John v. 
25. 

2. Rosen3Iuller. ' This signifies that the church, 
for a season, should be delivered from the disturbers of 
her tranquillity, and from those pernicious errors which 
corrupted the innocence of Christians. What the first 
resurrection is, appears with sufficient plainness from 
what is said thus far ; namely, a tranquil and happy state 
of the church is indicated.' Scholia in loc. 

Hammond. ' As for the old idolaters, or Gnostics, 
there was nothing like them now to be seen, nor should 
be till the end of this space of a thousand years. This 
is it that is proverbially described by the first resurrec- 



308 SELECTIONS FROM 

tion, that is, a flourishing condition of the church under 
the Messias. And blessed, and holy, that is, safe, (sepa- 
rate from all danger,) are all those that are really in the 
number of them that partake, effectually, of these ben- 
efits, who, as they are rescued from those destructions 
which the Roman tyrrany threatened them with, which 
is the interpretation of the second death ; so they shall 
now have the blessing of free, undisturbed assemblies for 
all this space.' Par. in loc. 

Dr. Hammond subjoins the following notes : — 

' First resurrection : what is meant by the first res- 
urrection, here, may be discerned by comparing it with 
the second resurrection, in the ordinary notion of it. That 
signifies the resurrection to eternal life ; proportionably, 
this must signify a reviving — a restoring to life, though 
not to that eternal. Here it is figuratively used to ex- 
press the flourishing condition of the christian church 
for that thousand years, wherein the christian professors,, 
in opposition to idolatrous heathens, and Gnostic chris- 
tians, live safely and happily in the enjoying the assem- 
blies which is, saith he, as if the primitive martyrs were 
fetched out of their graves to live again, here, in tran- 
quillity upon the earth. Where, only, it is to be noted* 
that the resurrection here is of the church, not of the par- 
ticular persons, (the beheaded, &c, mentioned ver. 4,} 
thus to be understood, that the church which was perse- 
cuted, and suppressed, and slain, as it were, and again 
corrupted and vitiated in its members, now rose from 
the dead, revived again.' 9 

1 The second death: this phrase — the second death, is 
four times used in this book, chap. ii. 11, and here, chap. 
xx. 6, then ver. 14, then chap. xxi. 8. It seems to be 
taken from the Jews, who use it proverbially for final, 
utter, irrevocable destruction. So in the Jerusalem Tar-* 
gum, Deut. xxxiii. 6 — Let Reuben live, and let him not 
die the second death by which the wicked die in the icorld to 
come. Where, whatsoever be signified, among them, by 
the world to come, (the age of the Messias, in whatsoever 
Jewish notion of it,) it seems to denote such a death, 
from which there is no release. And according to this 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 309 

notion of it, as it reflects fitly on the first death, (which 
is a destruction, but such as is reparable by a reviving or 
resurrection, but this past hopes, and exclusive of that,) 
so will all the several places, wherein it is used, be clearly 
interpreted; chap. ii. 11 — He that overcomes shall not be 
hurt by the second death, that is, if this church holds out 
constant, it shall not be cut off; that is, though it shall 
meet with great persecutions, ver. 10, and death itself, 
yet that utter excision would no way better be prevented 
than by this of constancy and persevering in suffering of 
all. So here, speaking of the flourishing condition of 
the christian church, reviving, after all its persecutions 
and corruptions, to a state of tranquillity and purity ; On 
these, saith he, the second death hath no poicer, that is, they 
have not incurred that utter excision, (having their part 
in the first resurrection,) but they shall be priests to Christ 
and God, and reign, fyc., that is, have a flourishing time 
of christian profession for that space of a thousand years. 
So in ver. 14, where death arid hades, [hell,] are cast into 
the lake of fire, that is, death and the state of mortality 
utterly destroyed, (O death, I will be thy death,) it is 
added, this is the second death, that is, mortality is utterly 
destroyed, there shall now be no more death, the life 
shall be eternal. So chap. xxi. 8, the lake that burneth 
with fire and brimstone, (the utter, irreversible destruction, 
such as fell on Sodom, called eternal fire, utterly con- 
sumptive,) is called the second death, into which they are 
said to go, that are never to appear in the church again, 
(see chap. xxi. 8). And though in these different mat- 
ters, some difference there must needs be in the signifi- 
cations, yet, in all of them, the notion of utter destruction, 
final, irreparable excision, may very properly be re- 
tained, and applied to each of them.' Annot. in loc. 



310 SELECTIONS FROM 



SECTION CXXXVII. 

' And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and 
brimstone. .where the beast and the false prophet are ; and shall be tor- 
mented day and night forever and ever/—- Rev. xx. 10. 

This is considered, by all the orthodox commentators, 
as far as I am acquainted with them, as proof of the exis- 
tence and misery of a mighty apostate spirit, whom they 
call the devil. But this does not affect the question, 
whether all men shall be saved. For, as I have already 
said, (Jude 6.) the endless misery of devils or apostate 
angels is one thing, and the endless misery of mankind 
is another, and a very different thing. If the endless 
misery of the one class were fully proved, the like misery 
of the other class would not follow as a necessary, or 
even natural consequence. 



section cxxxvin. 



1 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books 
were opened : and another book was opened, which is the book of life : 
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the 
books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which 
were in it : and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them : 
and they were judged every man according to their works. And death 
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And 
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake 
of fire. 7 — Rev. xx. 12 — 15. 

This passage, also, is explained, by all the orthodox 
commentators, as far as my examination has extended, 
with reference to the events of the future life. But it 
should be recollected, that many of them have inter- 
preted similar forms of expression, occurring in this book, 
to relate to events transpiring on the earth. Why they 
have given a different interpretation to the same kind of 
language here, I do not profess to know. 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 311 



SECTION CXXXIX. 



1 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, 
and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have 
their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone : which is the 
second death. 7 — Rev. xxi. 8. 

The following quotations furnish orthodox authority 
for supposing this text to relate to the concerns of the 
present life, and not to those of the future. 

1 . Hammond. ' But for the false, apostatizing, coward- 
ly Gnostics, notable for so many ill qualities, abominable 
villainies in lust, bloodiness, persecuting of the orthodox, 
pure christians, adultery, sorcery, idol worship, deep 
dissimulation, and lying, and falsifying, yea, perjuries, 
and all such as they were, they shall utterly be turned 
out of the church, (see note on chap. xx. 6,) not to appear 
any more among the christians.' Par. in loc. 

2. RosENMULLEit. For the meaning of this verse, 
so far as it indicates punishment, Rosenmuller refers to 
what he has said on chap. xix. 20, which is quoted in 
its proper place. 



SECTION CXL, 



'' And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be 
no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations 
into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth ? 
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie ; but they which 
are written in the Lamb's book of life. 7 — Rev. xxi. 25 — 27. 

That this does not indicate exclusion from happiness 
in the future life, but only exclusion from the church on 
earth, is admitted in the following quotation : — 

Hammond. ' And there shall be a most ready, hospi- 
table reception, at all times, for all that will come into 



SIS SELECTION'S FROM 

the faith by amendment of life. And the Gentiles of 
other parts, that are not subject to the Roman empire, 
shall come into the church, and contribute their best to 
the flourishing of it. by endowing of the church, (which 
is ordinarily meant by honor). And this shall, gen- 
erally, be done by all that have any resolution of living 
purely and godly : and only they shall be kept out which 
are immersed in all nlthiness, and abominable, unna- 
tural, vicious pi and in all kind of unjust dealing, 
for such cannot by the laws of baptism be received, and 
such will not desire to undergo Christ's discipline.' 
Par. in Joe. 



scnow cxli. 

he saith unto me of the prophecy of this 

book for the time is at hand. He thai I him be unjust still : and 

he that is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he t let him 

be righteous still : and he that is holy, let him be holy still. — Rev. xsii. 11. 

This text has frequently been quoted to prove that 
those who die in a sinful state must be raised with the 
same moral character, and so remain to all eternity. 
But that this is not the true meaning of the won 
admitted by the writers quoted below. 

1. Hammond. 'And then, methought, Christ himself 
said thus unto me — Seal not, shut not up this prophecy ; 
aling is opposed to leaving open and legible, Isa. 
xxix. 11.) lay it not up as a thing that only future ages 
are concerned in; for the time of the completion of a 
great part of it is so immediately at hand, that it is fit 
the prophecy should be open, for all to see, and observe 
the complexion of it. And now the bad and good shall 
come to receive their sentence ; there remain not now 
any more seasons of working changes on any, but he 
that is now an impenitent persecutor of Christianity, an 
impenitent, carnal Gnostic, is like suddenly to be taken, 
and dealt with accordingly, and on the other side, he 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 313 

that held out constant for all those terrors, and per- 
secutions, and deceits of carnal sins, is suddenly to re- 
ceive the fruits and rewards of it.' Par. in loc. 

1. Tomson's Beza. ' This is not as were other pro- 
phecies, which were commanded to be hid, till the time 
appointed, as in Dan. xii. 4, because that these things 
should be quickly accomplished, and did even now begin.' 
Note in loc. 

Both these writers evidently understand the text to be 
descriptive of a remarkable distinction which was to be 
made on the earth, between the good and the bad, very 
soon after this prophecy was delivered. 



SECTION CXLIL 

' Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right 
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For 
without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and 
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 7 — Rev. xxii. 14, 15. 

That these words are to be understood in relation to 
events occurring on the earth, and not in the future state 
of existence, is allowed by the writers quoted below : — 

1. Hammond. ' Thrice happy are they that receive 
the faith of Christ, and live according to those rules of 
piety mentioned ver. 2, and live quietly and christianly 
in the church : out of which, all profane, wicked persons 
are to be ejected ; such are the Gnostics, who cannot be 
better compared than to dogs, for biting and tearing the 
orthodox, constant christians, and are over and above 
sorcerers professed, and guilty of all filthy pollutions, 
bloody-minded, guilty of idol-worship, and hypocritical 
treacherous persons, (see chap. xxi. 8,) and so are but 
false, equivocal members of Christ's church, and shall 
have no part of the benefit of christians.' Par. in loc. 

Thus does Dr. Hammond interpret the city, out of 
which all vile characters are to be ejected, to mean the 

27 J 



314 SELECTIONS FROM 

church on earth) and not the state of the blessed in the 
future life. Lightfoot, doubtless^ held the same opinion, 
in as much as, in the words quoted below, he fixes the 
time indicated in a preceding verse, to a period then 
very near at hand, and which had no reference to the 
end of the world, popularly so called. 

2. Lightfoot. ' Heb. x. 37, James v. 9, Rev. i. 7, and 
xxii. 12, Behold I come quickly ; with many other pas- 
sages of that nature, all which must be understood of 
Christ's coming in judgment and vengeance against that 
wicked nation.' Heb. and Talm. Exerc, in John xxi. 22. 

3. Grotius. ' Enter in through the gates into the city : 
such were they who lived in the days of Constantine, and 
afterwards ; they were permitted to witness the splendor 
of the church, promised to the ancient fathers, and to be 
rulers in it. 

6 Without are dogs, &c. : such were those who were 
either not admitted to baptism, or, if formerly admitted, 
were afterwards excluded from the church.' Annot. in 
loc. 



SECTION CXLIII. 



' For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prorjhecy 
of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto 
him the plagues that are written in the book. And if any man shall take 
away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away 
his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the 
things which are written in thisbook. ; — Rev. xxii. 13, 19. 

That this relates to judgments to be administered on 
the earth, is admitted in the following quotations : — 

1. Hammond. * As for all those to whom this pro- 
phecy will come, I conjure them all, that they change not 
a tittle of it, and withal, that they look upon it as the last 
authoritative prophecy that is likely to come from heaven, 
to be a rule of faith to the church. What is here said, 
is decreed and settled immutable ; no man shall be able 



EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 315 

to avert it ; and whosoever shall go about to infuse any 
other expectations into men than what are agreeable to 
these visions, God shall bring on him the judgments that 
are here denounced against God's greatest enemies. And 
so in like manner, whosoever shall derogate any thing 
from the authority of this prophecy, or take out any part 
of it, or occasion men's not receiving the admonition of 
Christ here contained, in every part thereof, God shall 
cast him off, throw him out of the church, account him 
incapable of all the blessings which are here promised to 
the faithful christians.' Par. in loc. 

This quotation, taken alone, might not seem, with 
sufficient clearness, to express the author's opinion, that 
the judgments denounced belong to this life. But, when 
taken in connexion with the manner in which he has 
explained the ' plagues written in this book/ it is very 
evident that he did not seek for a fulfilment of this last 
prophecy in the future existence ; but that he believed 
the denunciation would be executed at the time of which 
he had had frequent occasion to speak. 

The remark made on the quotation from Lightfoot, 
on the passage last quoted, is equally applicable to that 
which follows. 

2. Lightfoot. ( The same things are meant in Heb. 
x. 37, " Yet a little while, and he that shall come, will 
come." James v. 9, " Behold the judge is at the door :" 
Rev. i. 7, " He cometh in the clouds." And xxii. 20, 
11 Surely I come quickly " And many more of the same 
kind, all which are to be understood of the coming of 
Christ in vengeance against the Jewish nation.' Tracta* 
tus de Spir. Proph. Sect. v. 

3. Grotius. ' God shall add unto him the plagues : by 
the plagues are to be understood, as well those in chap, 
vii. ix. x. and xi., as those in chap. xvi. xvii. and xviii. ; of 
which one portion relates to the Jews, and the other to 
the Roman empire. 

'And out of the holy city : he shall not be a member of 
the church, but shall be cast out, as one making a lie, 9 
Annot. in loc. 



316 SELECTIONS FROM EMINENT COMMENTATORS. 



CONCLUSION 



In this work, it was my design to notice every passage 
of scripture, which has been alleged from the New Tes- 
tament, to prove the doctrine of endless misery. If I 
have omitted any, the omission was undesigned. On 
some of the texts, it is true, I have not been able to 
adduce any orthodox authority in support of the views 
entertained by Universalists. The number of these, 
however, is very small. Besides, it should be recollected 
that my examination, though as extensive as my present 
resources would permit, has by no means embraced the 
whole body of orthodox commentators. And I do not 
despair of being able, hereafter, to complete that which 
is now lacking. Should my life and health be spared, 
the examination will be continued ; so that, if a second 
edition of this work should be called for, I may be able 
to render it more complete, in relation to the New Tes- 
tament, and perhaps embrace in it the controverted texts 
contained in the Old Testament also. 



THE END. 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS, 



A. 




Damned, 153 


205, 241 


Abraham, promise to, 


65 


Darkness, utter 


65 


Abyssos, 


53 


Day of judgment, 


56, 89, 90 


Accursed, 


223 


Death, as punishment, 


196, 199 


Age, conclusion of 23 


,96 


Death, second 


298 


Agree with thine adversary, 


47 


Death, sin unto 


287 


Aion, 


86 


Destruction, 


230, 237 


Anathema, 216, 


224 


Destruction, everlasting 


233 


Axe laid at the root of the trees 


,26 


Destruction of soul and body, 71 






Destruction of the world, 


281 


B. 




Destruction, swift 


276 


Balfour's Essays, 68, 


195 


Devil, snare of 


243 


Balfour's Inquiry, 


55 


E. 




Balfour's Letters, 


195 


Earth, salt of 


34 


Balfour's Reply to Stuart, 


46 


End, use of the word, 


23 


Ballou's Notes on Parables, 


28 


End of all things, 


23 


Ballou's Sermon Heb. ix. 27, 




End of the world, 
Endure to the end, 


95,97 


28, 


257 


69 


Birth, new 


163 


Esau hated, and Jacob loved, 200 


Blasphemy against the Holy 




Eternal fire, 


292 


Ghost, 


82 


Eternal judgment, 


250 


Body and soul, destroyed in hell 


,71" 


Expositor, Universalis 


55 


Bottomless pit, 


53 


F. 

Fire and brimstone, 301 




C. 




305, 311 


Capurnaum, 


77 


Fire, consuming 


266 


Cast-away, 


24 


Fire, eternal 


292 


Chaff, burned in the fire, 


29 


Fire, furnace of 


95 


Child of hell, 


118 


Fire, lake of 


310 


Children of the kingdom cast 




Fire, unquenchable 


29 


out, 


65 


First resurrection, 


307 


Clarke, Dr. A. inconsistency of 


48 






Cobb, Rev. S. Sermon, Luke xii 




G. 





4, 5, 75 

Coming of Christ, 23, 67, 101 

Conversion, 105 

Crown of life, 297 

Cursed, 224 

D. 
Damnation, 117, 203, 212, 244 

Damnation of hell, 119 

Damnation, resurrection of 167 
Damnation, slumbereth not, 276 



Gate, strait 55 

Gehenna, 39,49,71,118,119 

God, kingdom of 19,32,37,111,150 

163 190 
Gnashing of teeth, 65, 95, 97,' 114 

126 133 
Gomorrah and Sodom, 278,' 292 



Hades, 



H. 



54,77,157 



318 



INDEX OP SUBJECTS. 



Heaven, kingdom of 19, 32, 37, 57 
65, 105, 108 
Hell, 43,49.71,77,157 

Hell, child of 118 

Hell, damnation of 119 

Hell fire, 39, 49 

Hell, soul and body destroyed in 71 
Hinnom, valley of 40, 50 

Hudson's Letters and Reply, 195 

I.J. 

Isaac, promise to 65 

Jacob loved, and Esau hated, 200 
Jacob, promise to 65 

Jerusalem, exclamation concern- 
ing 121 
Judas Iscariot, 147, 177, 179 
Judge, 193 
Judgment, 195, 197 
Judgment, day of 68, 89, 90, 278,281 
Judgment, eternal 250 
Judgment of the great day, 291 
Judgment-seat of Christ, 204 

K. 

Kingdom, children of, cast out, 65 
Kingdom of God, 19, 32, 37, 111,150 
163, 190 
Kingdom of heaven, 19,32,37,57, 
65, 105, 108 
Kingdom of the Messiah, 19 



Lake of fire, 
Last day, 
Life, crown of 



L. 



M. 



Marriage-feast, parable of 
Maranatha, 
Messiah, kingdom of 
Misrepresentation noticed, 



Net, parable of 
New birth, 



N. 



P. 



310 
173 

297 

114 

216 
19 
45 



97 
163 



Perdition, 229, 261, 303 

Perdition, son of 177, 237 

Perish, 206,210,217 

Perish, except ye repent, 154 

Pharisees, righteousness of 37 

Pit, bottomless 53 

R. 
Repentance, impossibility of 254 
Repentance, no place of 264 

Reprobate, 221 



Resurrection, first 307 

Rich man and Lazarus, 156 

Rich man can hardly enter the 

kingdom, 108 

Righteousness of the Pharisees, 37 

S. 
Salt of the earth, 34 

Salvation, 62, 69, 184, 247 

Saved, 58, 68, 123, 184, 194, 206 
Saved, scarcely, 275 

Second death, 298, 307, 311 

Servant, faithful and unfaithful 126 
Servant, unforgiving 108 

Sheep and Goats, parable of 137 
Sheol, 78 

Sin unto death, 287 

Sodom and Gomorrah, 278, 292 
Sodom, more tolerable, &c, 66 
Spirits in prison, 270 

Strait gate, 55 

Stuart, Prof, his misrepresenta- 
tion, 45 
Stuart, Balfour's reply to 46 



Talents, parable of 133 

Tares among the wheat, 94 

Trees, cast into the fire, 26, 56 

Tyre and Sidon, 77 

Unclean spirit, 91 

Unforgiving servant, 108 

Universalist Expositor, 55 
Unpardonable sin, (so called,) 82 

Unquenchable fire, 29 

V. 

Valley of Hinnom, 40, 50 

Vessels of wrath, 201 

Vineyard, parable of 111 

Virgins, wise and foolish 129 

W. 

Wedding, parable of 114 
Weeping and gnashing of teeth, 65 
95,97, 114,126, 133 
Wheat and tares, parable of, 94 
Whittemore's notes on Para- 
bles, 28, 55 
World, destruction of 281 
World, end of 95, 97 
Wrath to come, 24, 197 
Wrath to the uttermost, 231 
Wrath, vessels of 201 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE. 



Genesis — iii. 24, 
vi. 3, 
ix. 5, 6, 
xii. 3, 
xv. 17, 
xix. 19, 22, 
xx. 3, 
xxvi. 4, 
xxvii. 32—40, 
xxviii. 14, 
Exodus— xiv. 11, 31, 

xxiv. 17, 
Levit. — x. 2. 
xx. 10, 
xxiv. 16, 
Numbers — xi. 15, 

xv. 30, 31, 
xvi. 22, 
xvi. 35, 
xvii. 13, 
xxiv. 25, 
xxv. 30, 
xxvii. 16, 
xxxv. 31, 
Deut. — iv. 24, 

xvii. 2 — 5, 
xvii. 6, 
xviii. 12, 
xxi. 18, 
xxi. 22, 
xxv. 16, 
xxvii. 26, 
xvix. 23, 27, 28, 
xxx. 19, 
xxxii. 22, 
xxxiii. 6, 
Joshua — vih. 24, 
x. 20, 

JuDGES^V. 4, 

xii. 7, 
Ruth — ii. 12, 
1 Samuel — ii. 25, 
iii. 14, 



41 


1 Samuel — viii. 5, 


194 


271 




xv. 22, 


73 


287 




xv. 33, 


127 


65 




xix. 12, 


58 


41 




xx. 32, 


289 


58 




xxvi. 16, 


289 


251 


2 Samuel — xii. 5, 


177 


65 




xii. 31, 


127 


265 




xix. 28, 


251, 289 


65 


1 Kings 


— ii. 42, 


204 


252 




xi. 7, 


50 


267 




xiii. ]— 32, 


287 


267 




xiv. 6, 


289 


86 




xvii. 20—24, 


251 


87 


2 Kings 


— iv. 32—36, 


251 


270 




xvi. 3, 4, 


50 


86 




xxi. 12—14, 


186 


271 




xxiii. 10, 


41 


267 


2 Chron. — xxvii. 3, 


41 


232 


Nehem. 


-i.2,3, 


58 


181 


Psalms- 


—xviii. 27, 


270 


287 




li. 16, 17, 


73 


271 




lviii. 11, 


197 


86 




lxxvii. 5, 


253 


267 




lxxvii. 18, 


267 


287 




lxxx. 9, 


112 


288 




cvi. 18, 


267 


204 




cxxxv. 14, 


260 


204 




cxl. 12, 


41 


288 




cxli. 10, 


280 


289 


Proverbs — xi. 3l, 


276 


225 




xxii. 28, 


253 


160 


Eccles. 


—iii. 20, 


181 


225 




xvi. 9, 


177 


160 


ISAIAH- 


-i.4, 


238 


308 




ii. 19, 


300 


232 




iii. 11, 


186 


232 




vi. 1, 


112 


267 




ix. 5, 


282 


194 




x. 22, 


59 


41 




x. 33, 34, 


26 


85 




xi. 4, 


240 


85 




xiii, 13, 


267 



320 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE, 



Isaiah— xiii. 19, 20, 


293 


Joel— 


-ii. 30, 


282 


xiv. 13, 15, 


80 




ii. 31, 


299 


xxiv. 19, 20, 


267 




ii. 32, 


58 


xxvi. 19, 


169 


Habak. — i. 5—10, 


187 


xxix. 11, 


312 




i. 15, 


280 


xxxiv. 4, 


299 


Zeph,* 


-ii. 9, 


293 


xxxvii. 31, 


58 


Haggai — ii. 6, 


266 


xl. 5—11, 


21 




ii.7, 


268 


xli. 16, 


32 


Zech.- 


—xiv. i, 


259 


xlii. 6, 


273 


Malachi — iii. 2, 


261 


xlv. 20, 


58 




iv. 1, 


261, 282 


xlix. 6, 


58 




iv. 5, 6, 


30,84 


li. 15, 16, 


284 


Ecclus.. — xxxvi. 9, 


58 


liii. 12, 


175 




xlvi. 12, 


180 


lvii. 9, 


81 




xlix. 10, 


180 


lviii. 12, 


293 


Susanna — 55,59, 


127 


lx. 1, 


272 


Matt. 


— i. 21, 


33 


lxv. 17, 


283 




iii. 2, 


19 


lxvi. 15, 16, 


282 




iii. 7, 


24 


lxvi. 22, 


283 




iii. 9, 


1% 


lxvi. 24, 


306 




iii. 10, 


26 


Jer.— iv. 22—28, 


301 




iii. 12, 


29 


vii. 16, 


85 




iv. 12, 


32 


vii. 22, 23, 


73 




iv. 16, 


169 


vii. 31, 32, 


41 




v.3, 


38 


x. 18, 


280 




v. 13, 


34 


xii. 10, 


112 




v. 20, 


37 


xviii. 15, 


253 




v. 21,22, 


39 


xviii. 15, 16, 


293 




v. 25, 26, 


47 


xix. 11—13, 


43 




v. 29, 30, 


49 


xxiii. 40, 


293 




vii. 1,2, 


270 


xxv. 9, 


293 




vii. 13, 14, 


55 


xlvi. 22, 23, 


26 




vii. 19, 


56 


xlix. 17, 18, 


293 




vii. 21—23, 


57 


1.40, 


293 




vii. 24—27, 


62 


li. 39, 


293 




viii, 11, 12, 


65 


Lament. — iii. 32, 


190 




ix. 13, 


270 


Ezek. — ii. 7, 


259 




ix. 21,22, 


184 


iii. 19, 


172 




x. 5, 


69 


viii. 18, 


85 




x. 6, 


116 


xxvi. 20, 21, 


293 




x. 7, 


22 


xxxi. 3, 10— 12, 


.26 




x. 14, 


81 


xxxii. 7, 


299 




x. 15, 


66 


xxxv. 9, 


293 




x. 17, 


69 


xxxvi. 2, 


253 




x. 18—22, 


68 


xxxvii. 1 — 14, 


252 




x. 21, 


127 


xxxvii, 12, 


. 167 




x. 23, 


69 


Daniel — iii. 29, 


127 




x, 28, 


71 


vii. 13, 14, 


102 




x. 30, 


69 


ix. 27, 


124 




x.31, 


73 


xii. 2, 


170 




x. 33, 


86, 103, 150 


Hosea — vi. 2, 


170 




x. 34, 


22 


x. 8, 


300 




x. 39, 


75 


Joel — ii. 1, 


259 




xi. 22—24, 


77 


ii. 3, 


282 




xii. 7, 


270 


ii. 10, 


267, 299 




xii. 31, 32, 


82 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE. 



32J 



Matt.— xii. 36, 89 

xii. 38— 41, ' 87 

xii. 41,42, 83,90 

xii. 43—45, 91 

xiii. 24—30, 94 

xiii. 37—43, 95 

xiii. 47—50, 97 

xiv. 19, 256 

xv. 27, 161 

xvi. 25, 26, 99 

xvi. 27, 28, 101 

xviii. 3, 105 

xviii. 4—6, 106 

xviii. 8, 107 

xviii. 9, 49, 107 

xviii. 11, 175 

xviii. 23—35, 108 

xix. 23, 24, 108 

xxi. 9, 122 

xxi. 33—44, 111 

xxi. 43, 66 

xxii. 2— 14, 114 
xxiii. 14, 117, 213 

xxiii. 15, 118 

xxiii. 23, 270 

xxiii. 32, 231 

xxiii. 33, 119 

xxiii. 35 231 

xxiii. 36, 119 

xxiii. 37—39, 121 

xxiv, 3, 69, 86 

xxiv. 10, 127 

xxiv. 12, 123 

xxiv. 13, 69, 123 

xxiv. 16, 58 

xxiv. 21, 275 

xxiv. 22, 58, 95 

xxiv. 30, 102 

xxiv. 31, 124 

xxiv. 34, 103 

xxiv. 40—42, 124 

xxiv. 45 — 51, 126 

xxv. 1—13, 129 

xxv. 14—30, 133 

xxv. 31—46, 137 

xxvi. 24, 147 

xxvi. 53, 72 

xxvi. 64, 102 

Mark— i. 15, * 38 

iii. 29, 82 

v. 23, 184 

vi. 11, 23,77 

vi. 66, 184 

viii. 35, 151 

viii. 35-*27, 99 
f»i. 38, 101,150 



Mark — ix. 1, 

ix. 43—48, 
ix. 49, 50, 
x.15, 

x. 24, 25, 
x. 52 

xii 1—11, 
xii. 40, 
xiii. 13, 
xiv. 25, 
xvi. 15, 16, 
Luke— i. 78, 79, 
iii. 7, 
iii. 9, 
iii. 17, 
iv. 18, 
vi. 20, 
vi. 47 — 49, 
ix. 5, 
ix.24, 25, 
ix. 26, 27, 
ix. 62, 
x. 1, 

x. 11,12, 
xi. 24—26, 
xi.31,32, 
xi. 49—51, 
xii. 4, 
xii. 5, 
xii. 8, 
xii. 10, 
xii. 42—46, 
xii. 58, 59, 
xiii. 3, 5, 
xiii. 23—30, 
xiii. 24, 
xiii. 28, 
xiii. 34, 35, 
xiv. 16 — 24, 
xiv. 3^, 35, 
xvi. 19—31, 
xvii. 19, 
xvii. 20—24, 
xvii. 22, 
xvii. 30, 
xvii. 33, 
xvii. 34 — 36, 
xviii. 7, 
xviii. 17, 
xviii. 24, 25, 
xix. 9, 
xix. 11—27, 
xix. 40, 
xx. 9—18, 
xx. 47, 
xxi, 8, 



101, 150 

49, 107 

34 

105 

108 
184 
111 
117 

69, 123 
147 
153 

169 

24 

26 

29 

273 

38 

62 

81 

69,99 

101 

188 

116 

22 

91 

90 

231 

71 

47,71 

47 

82 

126 

47 

154 

57,65 

55 

117 

121 

114 

134 

156 

37, 184 

22 

176 

259 

99 

124 

23 

105 

108 

59 

133 

259 

111 

117 

259 



322 



INDEX OP SCRIPTURE. 



Luke— xxi. 16, 17, 


275 


xxi. 18, 


21,96 


xxi. 19, 


123 


xxi. 20, 


124 


xxi. 22, 


300 


xxi. 24, 


232 


xxi. 31, 


21 


xxi. 34, 


34 


xxi. 36, 


59,69 


xxii. 22, 


147 


xxiii. 30, 


300 


xxiii. 34, 35, 


87, 175 


xxiii. 40, 


203 


xxiv. 47, 


115 


John-— iii. 3, 5. 


163 


iii. 17, 


175 


iii. 18—21, 


169 


iii. 36, 


166 


iv. 21, 


194 


v. 24, 


228 


v. 25, 26, 


16S, 273 


v. 27, 


169 


v. 28, 29, 


167 


vii. 34, 


170 


viii. 21, 


172 


viii. 23, 


175 


ix. 22, 34, 


110 


ix. 39, 


197 


x. 8, 


57 


x. 16, 


176 


xi. 12, 


58 


xii. 31, 


197 


xii. 33, 


170 


xii. 42, 


110 


xii. 44, 


73 


xii. 47, 


175 


xii. 48, 


173 


xiv. 2, 3, 12, 28, 


273 


xv. 6, 


174 


xvi. 7, 28, 


273 


xvii. 3, 


188 


xvii. 6, 


175 


xvii. 9, 


175 


xvii. 12, 


177 


xvii. 14, 16, 


175 


xvii. 15, 


176 


xvii. 20, 33, 


175 


xviii. 9, 


177 


xxi. 22, 23, 


102 


Acts — i. 3, 


190 


i. 5, 


165 


i. 16—19, 


180 


i. 24, 25, 


179 


ii. 17—20, 


259 



Acts — i 



Rom. — 



-ii. 36—38, 


83 


ii. 40, 


25, 192 


ii. 42, 


70 


ii. 47, 


60 


iii. 17, 


83 


iii. 19, 20, 


182 


iv. 7, 10, 12, 


184 


v. 31, 


83 


vii. 7, 


117 


vii. 25, 


69 


viii. 12, 


190 


ix. 31, 


236 


xi. 17, 


59 


xi. 19, 


260 


xiii. 28, 


197 


xiii. 40, 41, 


186 


xiii. 46—48, 


188 


xiii. 47, 


273 


xiv. 15, 


194 


xiv. 22, 


190 


xiv. 27, 


55 


xvi. 30, 


191 


xvii. 23—31, 


193 


xix. 13, 


184 


xxiii. 29, 


197 


xxiv. 25, 


195 


xxvi. 31, 


197 


xxvii. 20,21, 


58 


xxviii. 1, 


58 


xxv iii. 18, 


197 


-i. 32, 


196 


ii. 3, 5, 


197 


ii. 8—12, 


198 


iv. 25, 


15S 


v. 16, 


203 


vi. 7, 


66 


vi. 21, 23, 


199 


vii. 11, 


74 


viii. 38, 


211 


ix. 13, 


200 


ix. 17, 


202 


ix. 22, 


201, 237 


ix. 27, 


59 


ix. 31,32, 


66 


x. 10, 


247 


x. 13, 


58 


xi. 14, 


59 


xi. 15, 


170, 252 


xi. 25, 


232 


xi. 35, 


251 


xii. 1, 


37 


xiii. 2, 


203 


xiii. 4, 


23 


xiii. 11, 


234 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE. 



323 



Rom.' — xiv. 10, 




204 


Col.- 


-iv. 6, 


35 


xiv. 17, 




38 


1 Thess. — i. 9, 


194 


xiv. 22, 23, 




205 




ii. 14, 


260 


xv. 16, 




273 




ii. 16, 


231 


xvi. 25, 




223 




v. 1, 2, 


259 


1 Cor.— i. 8—12, 




259 




v. 4, 


273 


i. 18, 


61 


,206 




v.9, 


237 


iii. 13, 




259 


2THESS, 


233 


iii. 15, 


62 


, 275 




ii. 3, 


237, 305 


iv. 2, 




259 




ii. 8, 


239 


vi. 9—11, 




209 




ii. 10—12, 


241 


vii. 16, 




59 


1 Tim 


.-i. 9, 


253 


viii. 11, 




210 




ii. 4, 


167 


ix. 27, 




211 




ii. 6, 


185 


x. 11, 




262 




iii. 6, 7, 


243 


xi. 29, 




212 




v. 12, 


244 


xi. 30—32, 


213 


, 288 




vi.9, 


245 


xv. 19, 




214 


2 Tim 


.-ii. 12, 


246 


xv. 58, 




226 




iii. 6, 


117 


xvi. 9, 




55 




iv. 7, 8, 


- 211 


xvi. 22, 




216 


Titus 


-i.2, 


253 


2 Cor.— i. 8—10, 




252 


Heb.- 


-ii. 2, 3, 


247 


ii. 15, 16* 


61 


217 




ii. 5, 


284 


iv. 3, 4, 


61 


21S 




ii. 9, 


185 


v. 10, 




219 




iii. 11, ' 


248 


v. 17, 




285 




iii. 15, 


250 


v. 20, 




273 




iii. 18, 19, 


66, 248 


xiii. 5 — 7> 




221 




iv. 1, 


248 


Gal.— i. 8, 9, 




223 




iv. 2, 5, 8, 


66 


ii. 8, 




273 




vi. 2, 


250 


iii. 7, 9, 




65 




vi. 4—8, 


254 


iii. 10, 13, 




224 




vi. 5, 


86, 284 


iii. 14, 29, 




65 




viii. 11, 


167 


iv. 9, 




267 




ix. 27, 28, 


256 


iv. 28, 




65 




x. 19—23, 


37 


v. 19—21, 




226 




x . 24—31, 


257 


vi. 8, 




227 




x. 25, 


130 


Eph.— i. 14, 




262 




x.26, 


288 


ii. 1, 




169 




x. 27, 


127, 282 


ii. 2, 




177 




x. 37, 


262 


ii. 7, 




86 




x. 39, 


261 


ii. 17, 




273 




xi. 7, 


271 


iii. 5, 21, 




86 




xii. 9, 


271 


iv. 8, 




273 




xii. 14, 


263 


iv. 29, 




35 




xii. 17, 


264 


v. 5, 




228 




xiii 23, 


271 


v. 8, 




273 




xiii. 25—29 


266 


v. 14, 




170 


James 


— i. 15, 


269 


Phil.— i. 23, 




229 




ii. 13, 


269 


ii. 11, 




167 




iii. 1, 


213 


iii. 19, 


230, 


237 




v. 8, 9, 


127 


Col.— i. 13, 




273 




v. 15, 


288 


i.26, 




86 


1 Pet 


.-i. 5, 


70,234 


, ii. 20, 




267 




i. 7, 13, 


234 



Iff 



324 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE. 



1 Pet.—i. 20, 




138 


1 John — v. 16, 


287 


ii. 9, 




117 


Jude- 


-4, 


290 


iii. 17, 




274 




6, 


291 


iii. 13—22, 




270 




7, 


235, 292 


iii. 20,21, 




25 




11, 12, 


295 


iv. 7, 




262 




14, 15, 


296 


iv. 12, 




275 




is, 


128 


iv. 13, 




234 




23, 


62 


iv. 17, 18, 


212 


,275 


Rev.- 


-i. 7, 


102 


v. 1, 




234 




ii. 8—10, 


297 


2 Pet.—i. 3, 




370 




ii. 11, 


298 


i. 11, 




375 




iii. 15, 


299 


i. 19, 




256 




vi. 4—8, 


301 


ii. 1, 




231 




vi. 12—17, 


299 


ii. 1—3, 




276 




xi. 18, 


300 


ii. 4—9, 




278 




xiii. 8, 


138 


ii. 5, 9, 




274 




xiv. 9—11, 


301 


ii. 10, 




282 




xiv. 13, 


302 


ii. 12, 




279 




xvi. 14, 


300 


ii. 17, 




880 




xvii. 8—11, 


237, 303 


ii. 20, 


61,! 




xix. 20, 21, 


302, 305 


iii. 3, 




128 




xx. 3, 


53 


iii. 4, 




127 




xx. 5, 6, 


170, 307 


iii. 5, 6,* 




283 




xx. 10—15, 


306, 310 


iii. 7—13, 




281 




xxi. 1, 


283 


iii. 10, 




130 




xxi. 8, 


311 


iii. 12, 




131 




xxi. 24, 


206 


iii. 16, 




282 




xxi. 25—27. 


311 


1 John — i. 7, 




89 




xxii. 2, 


313 


ii. 2, 




175 




xxii. 11, 


312 


ii. 6, 




292 




xxii. 12, 


314 


ii. 18, 


260 


,291 




xxii. 14, 15, 


311 


iii. 7, 




' 292 




xxii. 18,19, 


314 


iii. 15, 




285 




xxii. 20, 


315 



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